The Connect- with Johnny Mitchell - Confessions Of A Cartel Drug Mule: How An American Fugitive Became A Smuggler For COLOMBIAN Cartels

Episode Date: September 8, 2024

In this episode we dive deep into the extraordinary life story of Ian Heinisch, a professional UFC middleweight fighter and crypto investor with a past that sounds like a Hollywood movie. Before becoming a top-ranked fighter, Ian was involved in international drug trafficking and spent years on the run, crossing paths with dangerous criminals across the globe. Join us as Ian shares his journey from growing up in a middle-class family in Denver, Colorado, to becoming one of the most wanted men in Europe, smuggling drugs for Colombian cartels, and surviving in some of the most dangerous prisons in Spain. Discover how he turned his life around, embracing MMA while behind bars, and rapidly climbing the ranks in the UFC after his release. In this candid conversation, Ian opens up about his past mistakes, the lessons he learned along the way, and his redemption through fighting and investing. This is a story of resilience, transformation, and the power of second chances. Go Support Ian! YouTube: @CryptoKings888 IG: https://www.instagram.com/ianheinischmma This Episode Is #Sponsored By PrizePicks! Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/MITCHELL and use code MITCHELL and get $50 instantly when you play $5! Join The Patreon For Bonus Content! https://www.patreon.com/theconnectshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This American guy comes up to me, he says, hey, Gringo, you want to make some real money? They took us up to the mountains where they got the Coke. And we start swallowing, 10. We started taking trips. Venezuela, Aruba, Colombia. Drug Task Force jumped on us. I'm going to jail for a long time. Ian Hinesh is a professional middleweight UFC fighter and crypto investor.

But years ago, he was an international criminal who spent a decade on the run. Ian grew up in a middle-class family in Denver, Colorado. But by the time he was 18, he was importing MDM. from Canada and running one of the largest distribution rings in the Denver area. When the feds came after him, instead of facing the charges, he made a run for it. For the next eight years, he lived as a fugitive in Europe, rubbing shoulders with the sketchiest people you can imagine. He ended up in Tarifa, Spain, where he hooked up with some Colombians, who paid him to

start flying to Colombia to swallow Coke balloons and mule them back to Europe. He eventually got pot for this and spent the next three years in one of the most dangerous prisons in Spain. While he was down, he began training, first as a wrestler and then as a mixed martial artist, where he excelled. After finally getting shipped back to the United States and wrapping up his old Fed case, Ian went on a fighting tear, quickly ascending the amateur ranks and then winning his first eight fights as a professional, mostly with knockouts. After just his second fight in the UFC, he was ranked number nine in the world. Ian has one of the craziest life stories of anyone we've interviewed on this show,

and should serve as an inspiration for anyone trying to turn their life around. Make sure to follow him on Twitter at Ian Hynish and check out his YouTube channel, Crypto Kings, where he teaches people how to invest in the booming cryptocurrency market. And for a bonus episode with Ian, you know what time it is. Go over to Patreon, patreon.com slash The Connect show. I loved this interview, and you will too. It's my great pleasure to give you Ian Hinesh right here on The Connect with Johnny Mitchell. They took me to a jail. Public defender sits me down.

She's like, you need to go to protect the custody. These guys got a SOS on you to have on site. So I'm up all night praying, making armor. And I was like, this is so bad in my mind. I was like, I'm about to get it from every angle. That's when I see lights behind me start to flash. And I didn't even think. I just hit it.

I was driving like my life depended on. Then I parked the car, popped out, closed the door, and I started running. And he pulls out a burner, shank. It's like six inches. And he passes it to me. And he goes, here, that's yours. Don't ever leave. the cell block without this.

He was the reason I made it out of that place alive. I had you on here because, like, we have, well, not a similar story to the T, but, you know, it's, uh, yeah, I listen to your story, man. Oh, cool. Yeah, it's cool, man. Yeah, I listen to quite a few of your stuff. Oh, wow. A lot of people I know know about you.

So, like, it's cool to see you're blowing up and you're just using, like, the crazy stuff we went through to make a living. How ironic is that? Yeah. I just started talking about the. old days. Yeah. And it, here I am. People love it. So, I mean, you, you were kind of like me, middle class, upper middle class even. Yeah. When you were a kid, you're from Denver. Yeah. What does your parents do? My dad owned a roof and business. Okay. So, I mean,

blue collar, but, you know, he did pretty good owning his own business. And it was the right time. And you had a good economy back then. Besides in 2008, they lost everything. Uh-huh. And that's when your dad started partying, you said. Yeah, my dad started partying again and then, like, started going to, like, yoga and, like, just, like, was, like, partying with us hard and then left my mom. And then what did he said? When you said, partying, are we talking Coke? Crystal? Coke.

Ecstasy, weed. And then he, like, I prescribed painkillers, oxy. Mm-hmm. So, like, that went down a whole road. But he takes a lot of, like, acid and stuff. And you go to, like, raves and, like, he's, like, super shredded and, like, has this, like, he thinks he thinks he. season like he's 20. Right.

He can't like accept that he's getting old. And also goes to yoga amidst all of this drug use. Oh dude goes like three or four times a day. Like he'll party like 4 a.m. It'll be like the 8 a.m. yoga. Like he forces himself to go. That's like what he always taught me. Like if you party, you got to pay.

Yeah. Like if you party, you got to train. You got to earn that party in. Right. Well, you are going to pay for it one way or the other. Yeah. You might as well go get exercise and sweat it out. Yeah.

Yeah. You had friends that died of opioids. Yes. Which is a very middle American thing. Yeah. Like we didn't have that on the West Coast, just past us. I don't know. That's so crazy.

Maybe we were just a lot more ahead when kind of like the consciousness of knowing like, hey, these farmer reps are sharks. Yeah. Like they are pushing. I don't know what it was. I mean, there was a lot of heroin over there. And it came from like the East Coast. Yeah. It came from like Ohio and like Florida.

like Florida up like that whole coast right there and then kind of made its way over but that's crazy it didn't hit well maybe because we're all the way on the west coast yeah and but but there was a lot of black tar Mexican heroin uh going on during this time so we didn't even get the oxies we just went straight to the smack you know straight to the stuff that was going to eventually you know lead opioids were going to lead to anyways did you ever get into it yeah yeah I was addicted to Doxies? Toxies deep, bro, for like, like, probably close to two years. Like, I was taking, like, 250, 300 milligrams smoking it, hopping it.

Like, the only, I never injected. And that's how they got the, like, the middle to upper class because it just started out with, like, a prescription. Or, hey, take this pill, man, you'll feel good. And then, like, and then it became harder and harder to get. So then they needed that high. So then they went to the heroin and they started smoking. Oh, it's not working. Boom.

Then they start shooting up. And it's like it like you you wouldn't think these are good kids, good families. Like you would never think they would shoot heroin. And it just was a slow process of getting to that point. You were reckless though. Like you were a good kid. You were from a good family. But you just moved like you had the mind of like a guy that just went to one thing after the other.

Like you didn't think things through it seems like you were just very impulsive. Oh yes. Very impulsive. You nailed that one. Like, yeah, I, I just, like, when I do things, it's all or nothing. Like, I go hard. That's why, you know, I only started training for the UFC for, what, four years. And I, you know, people said I was too old, too many drugs, too far gone.

But the way I trained was I trained harder than all my teammates. So, like, I excelled so much faster. I had the wrestling background. And, you know, that's what made me great, but also made me. fall really hard because when we partied it was like a competition like who can like like do the most like come on pussy like always egging each other on like and you know i mean when you're we were taking like i'm talking stevo status bro like i'm talking to wake up start drinking a handle of vodka we tip we pop zanx then we sniff coke to stay up then we pop ecstasy in the night then we're doing like

um you know volumes and painkillers and smoking weed and and uh you know when i was trafficking ecstasy you know, we were taking, like, like I was thinking so much, I was to the point where, like, your eyes are just, and you're just like, you're like, almost like you feel like you're in a dream,

like someone would have a conversation with me, and I'd be like, in a full conversation, I'd be like, so what are you doing tomorrow? Like, just like random stuff, like in and out. Like,

I think ecstasy fried my brain with painkillers is the, like, the hardest. And I think that contributed to some of like the concussion stuff that I dealt with. Because didn't they say

it put holes in your brain? That was like the, what kids would say. That's what XTC does. Yeah. Is there something to that? I would say more it, like, heats the brain up. You know, you get really hot and, you know, maybe it does put holes.

I mean, I've had a bunch of CAT scans and MRIs. There's no visible holes that they've seen. But you can just tell, like, Ecstasy kind of did some weird stuff with your brain. And who knows, though, really. I know pharmaceuticals, like, hurt. Pharmaceuticals are probably worse than street drugs, like, worse than cocaine and XC, like, by far. Oh, yeah. yeah, definitely, definitely. I mean, nowadays, Molly is seen as this like almost therapeutic,

you know, healing drug, just like psilocybe and mushrooms. So I don't think holes in the brain, that's got to be bullshit. Yeah. What was, but you were selling ecstasy. So tell us about that like mid 2000s ecstasy. Yeah, so we were getting it from Canada. And at that time, man, I had moved to Canada Like it was paradise up there and It went to Vancouver Vancouver yeah and I was And I was just going there for a chick

To just hang out go to her prom Like I already was graduated But she flew me out Like randomly I went up there I was like bro, this place is awesome I'm staying here I got my my resume

I put it in like Craigslist And it went out to like all these people And you know I had like my wrestling accomplishments Like it was a ridiculous resume Like I was made up stuff on it This guy's like, meet me downtown. And I go up to this like high rise.

And it was like the boiling room. You ever seen that movie? Boiler room? Yeah. Of course. Like with Ben Affleck where he does that speech, it was like that speech slash like Wolf of Wall Street. This dude had a thought we were saving the world.

So I ended up making two to four grand a week. And I was an 19 year old kid and I was able to drink. So I had money. I was able to go to bars. And then I started doing ecstasy. And the ecstasy back then, especially in Canada, I was like, you could take one

and you don't need more for like four hours. And, you know, that's when after I got deported from there, I started getting it shipped back. Who was the plug in that era for ecstasy in Canada? They were Guatemalans.

And I believe they were connected with the Mexican cartel. Okay. So you didn't think this was like European ecstasy? Because I know a lot of X comes from like Amsterdam and that area. No, dude, they were like Vancouver at the time.

was producing so much ecstasy like and they were making the best ecstasy in my opinion because I went when I went over to Europe it was trash and mainly in the UK like I was in the UK bro and it was like you could take like 20 of them and your jaw would just be like typewriter jaw and you would feel like disgusting right and as in here you would take like one and you would feel like you conquer the world like yeah you have energy you feel so good and even the come down you kind of feel good the next day and then like one day later you feel a little depressed. Sure. But it sounds like they might have even been pressing them in Canada.

No, they were. Wow. So maybe they got the precursors from wherever Mexico or China, but then they're actually pressing them into pills in Canada. I'm sure they were doing that. So the Guatemalans were the dealers. Yeah, and they were getting, so when I went there with this chick,

right down the street with these two Guatemalans, and I just vibed with them. And we were like working out together. And I was better friends with the, younger one and the older one would have all these crazy meetings and he'd speak Spanish and they'd always look at me weird and like they were obviously like all like linked up to the cartel he was getting kilos in he had a ton of money like super nice apartment and me and his buddy were like shooting steroids and like partying super hard doing crazy amounts of coke and and getting our hands on these ecstasy

and I was like these actually is so good we sent some back to Denver to some guys who kind of run that area and they were like, whoa, like this is good stuff. So we started, light bulb, light bulb went on. After I got in trouble there, I got sent back. Hang on, how much, before we get into that, how much is a pill of ecstasy at this time that you're buying it for in Canada? Over there, it was probably, it was like two to three dollars. It was wholesale. Dirt cheap. Wow. You sell them for what, 20 in Denver? Yeah. If I was selling them in bulk, it would be like eight for a boat. But, know at the club 1520 at the raves 1520 wow how what's a boat thousand thousand ecstasy pills yeah thousand pills wow and that is that like the for uh ecstasy dealer is that like the

equivalent of like a kilo for a cocaine dealer that's that's the whatever the denominations yeah that's what they say like you know like the guy it's like a bitcoin story too but um so when i was in colorado he started shipping me down so i got back to colorado back there 2008 market crash parents get divorced lose the house like everything is in like a depression you know it was like rough time and i'm like you know i came from some money and and now i'm like bro i'm at ground zero i just got deported from canada why'd you get deported um so i was working at this place right door to door sales right and saving the world selling fixed rate contracts or natural gas like killing it bro like total sales

person life like party hard sell hard and you get like bonuses cash like it's just this group like this hurrah like cummaia like sell like hell just screaming every day coffee's for closers yeah having meetings every day and

I knock on this chick's door she opens the door her and four of her friends in there and they're drunk and they're like oh he's cute bring him in so like pull me in so you know I'm talking to them I'm like selling them these contracts getting them all this sign and then their friend like she just broke up with their boyfriend you should dance

there like make her feel better so like I'm drinking like three margaritas deep and I'm like dancing with this chick I sign them all up and then like she's like okay she's too drunk to drive you have to drive her home and I'm like uh because we're supposed to have a sales meeting so I was like all right wait here I go to the chick my boss and I'm like here's my contracts I got to go and she's like yeah and I like just jog up so I drive this chick to her house she's third 37 years old. I'm 19. Beautiful Italian girl. And we're in her place drinking wine. She sells wine for a living. So she had this like really nice wine sitting there drinking some wine. All of a sudden, boom, boom, boom. And she lives on a duplex. So she lives upstairs. She has

a sliding glass door as her front door. Because like she is the upstairs. Her, her other like unit is at the bottom. So boom, boom, boom, boom. She opens a curtain. It's her ex-hound. Spring weekends are all about family, sunshine, and evenings on the patio. Before everyone arrives, I stop by my local Total Wine and More to grab a great bottle to share. With such a wide selection and the lowest prices, it's easy to find something amazing for everyone to enjoy. If you're not sure what to pick, their friendly guides can help. Find what you love and love what you find only at Total Wine and more. Shop total wine and more in store or online. Spirits not sold in Virginia and North Carolina. Drink responsibly. B-21.

And he's freaking out. Yikes. After you, blah, blah. Then he sees me, bro. His anger goes to like level 10. So he's freaking out. So I like walk over. And I'm like, what's up, bro? He's like, come out here. Come out here. Like, you want me to come out there? He's like, yeah. So I slide the door open just enough for my fist to come through. Boom. Throw a right cross through. there, pop him in the nose, he falls down, I jump on him, I'm choking him, giving him some slaps. I'm like, you're going to go home, you're going to do this peacefully, and, because two kids are sleeping inside. They have two kids together, so I'm not trying to, like, kill this guy, grabs my balls, bro, and squeezes and twists and twists, and I just snap, bro, and I'm all, like,

juiced out back then. I just lift him up, and I throw him across, grab him, hold him over the balcony, and he's like this, and I hear the girl, she's like, no. So I, like, throw him, him by the stairs and I walk him to the flight of stairs and I throw him. D-d-do-do-do-do-no-no. Rolls down the stairs and I'm moving in with this chick 11 days later. Jesus fucking Christ, I did not see that coming. God. Oh, what a toxic, toxic broad. Holy shit, Ian.

So it's suffice to say you never said no much. Yeah. Like you just never said, hmm. I think I'll pass. Up to this point, you just didn't... I just wasn't in your vocabulary, man. Right. Yes.

I mean, it was crazy too, because, like, she wakes up, takes her kids to school. I spend the night. And I'm like, in this chick's house. And I'm like, this chick's crazy, bro. Like, she just met me. I'm like in her house, like, all her stuff's in there. And she's, like, taking her kids to school. Yeah.

She comes home. She's cool. I ended up leaving the girl I went out there with prom to prom with, obviously. Yeah. I moved in with the Guatemalans. This is before all this happened. And then she was, like, getting crazy, like, rolling up over to the Guatemalans house. And the Guatemalans were moving.

So it all worked out, like, 11 days later. I was like, I don't really have a place to live. And she's like, yeah, you can come moving with me. I have an extra room. We'll just tell the kids you're like a roommate. Yeah. Totally. That's good for them.

Yeah, totally, right? You got an uncle. Yeah. Uncle Ian. Yeah, stepdad Ian. He'll be in my bedroom every now and then. Well, he sneaks in there when they go to bed. But, yeah, so today's episode is sponsored by PrizePix.

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run your game. All right, let's get back into it. I'm living with this chick for like eight months. Things are great. I buy myself a car. I'm making good money. Like, things are going good. And like, you know, we're taking XE.

And this is when we started sending it down there. And then probably six to eight months later, I hear, boom, boom, boom, on the door again. Like, it sounded like when the guy came that night. It's like 6 a.m. in the morning. So I roll up in my owner. I'm like, all right, round two. And boom, I open the curtain, slide them open.

It's the immigration police. this dude has been like straight up like spying on me like found out I was working there illegally I was getting paid under the table I had no license to work I had went home for a family trip came back instead of flying to Seattle

and having her pick me up I flew to Seattle and tried to Greyhound bus across and they checked my record I had like DUI so they like denied me and then I sat in a hotel on the border and I tried to run across the board border and then they grabbed me and they're like if you try to cross the border one more time we're gonna give you 100 days mandatory so then the chick i originally went out with her mom picked me up

and drove me across this is a very mexican story by the way i tried to run across the border i was a drunk i was getting in fights like bro i felt like um i felt like like a mexican and i was hanging out with them and when i got when i got caught you know they threw me in a holding cell with them the second time. So they let me go free on post set, but I'm like, I'm going back. I have this job. I have this girl. Like my life is there now. Like I got to get back there. And sometimes when you go with like legit people like this chick's mom, you know, they're just like, all right, how long? I'm like, I'm going to be here one week. Cool. Boom. And they don't like scan your stuff. So they let me go. All right. So when the immigration, when he called immigration on me, they saw that I already

tried to sneak across twice illegally. And now I'm here illegally and I'm working illegally. And I'm So boom, handcuffs, walk me down the stairs. I go to jail. It's a Thursday night. Friday was a holiday, so I couldn't go to court. So I sat in a holding cell Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Could not go to court until Monday. Bro, I'm freaking out.

At this point, I've not really been to jail that much. I did a 10-day stint in Colorado, but I'm coming off Xanax. I'm coming off all these drugs, bro. I'm freaking out in the cells. Like, I scream at them. You know, you're in those little holding cells. They take me to the hospital. They give me my Xanax prescriptions.

So I'm popping that. And this chick comes to court on Monday. 5,000 cash bails me out. Because in Canada, there's no Bales Bondsman. So she bails me out. We're driving home. I'm like, take me the bar, tequila shots. Poppin Xanax.

Take me home. I go to the house. I look for my ecstasy. And there was no ecstasy. I said, where is it? And she's like, she heard that I slept with my ex when I was living together because they like started talking when I was locked up. and she heard that I was sleeping with her at the same time.

So she told me this story. And she goes, well, I took the excee when you were gone with my husband's best friend. And we banged all weekend. Oh, no. So, dude, I'm like, I'm like totally. Because now you're torn. She fucked your friend behind your back, but she also bailed you out. So what do we do?

So, um, I, this makes my youth look responsible. Yeah, so I, I obviously I'm mad. Smash up the house a little bit. Like, what's your charge when, when they arrested you and brought you to court? Allegedly working and illegally snuck across the border. So you don't just get deported? Like I was getting, I was getting deported no matter what. Okay.

But she was able to bail me out. Okay. And I could fight it. Like I could get lawyers and stuff. So, you know, I'm coming home sad. Like, I'm like, bro, my whole life. like now I'm going to get deported for sure I gotta get lawyers this and that

and then she drops this bomb on me so like I trash her place I don't really remember like I pass out in a drunken like you know like Xanaxed out slumber and next thing I know she's full mount like just teeing off on me because apparently her kids heard me like

screaming and breaking stuff so they were scared in the morning when she took in school she came home furious jumps on me she's like get out of my house So like all as I know I was so like if you've been there bro like you're you're not even Then plan it like especially with those Xanax and all I felt like all I know I just wanted whatever was happening to stop And like so like I woke up on her like holding her down by her neck and I was like whoa like when I finally opened my eyes And she's like you're crazy so I grab a bottle of her best wine and I take off towards the beach

She calls the police bro the police the police like I'm running like this and the police are here They cut in front of me. I roll over the hood, break the bottle, and apparently I went at them. Oh my God. Bro, like if it was America, pop, pop, pop, pop. Oh, definitely. Luckily, it was Canada. These guys throw me to the ground.

They put me in the back of like the paddy wagon. Just kicking my ribs, like, you stupid American. Gave me a black eye, swanj. I mean, they beat me up for a while. They abused me. Which I can't even blame them. Yeah, I mean, you came out of them with a broken wine bottle. Yeah.

That's pretty serious. It was pretty serious. So I made front page of the Vancouver Sun. They sat me down and they interviewed me and they're like, how did you get here? Bro, I'm still so Xanax out. I gave him the craziest story. And they like, and they like ate it up. Like I was like, I'm a cage fighter and I met her online because I didn't want to put my old job on blast because they were paying me under the table and I liked my boss. So I was like, I'm a cage. They're like, how do you make money? I was like, I'm a cage fight. I'm a prize fighter. Like, how did you meet her? I met her online. And, uh, and I was. And, uh, and I was. was like, they have me in like quotes. I was like, I'm going to get that POS who ratted me out. And I'm going to put him in the ocean where no one can find him. And like word for verbatim, like you can find the article. Oh yeah, we're going to put that up as B-roll for sure. Yeah.

So front page of the Vancouver Sun. They found some picture of me like 14 years old wrestling and put that as my picture. Wow. And which was like, I looked like a little kid and they're like, they're like 30 or 19-year-old fugitive cage fighter beats up 37 year old girlfriend and sneaks across the board. So that was the front page. It's like, I don't know what your main newspaper is,

but it was their main newspaper. And I sat in jail for like seven months. And then they came and got me and deported me. And that's when I ended up back in Colorado. So I'm back there. I'm broke. I'm like, what am I going to do now? And that's when I call the Guatemalans.

And I say, hey, man, let's, let's see what we can do. I link up with the guy that I was sending him to because he could get rid of them really quick. Right. And you already knew how to mail them, right? Yeah. So we tried a few ways.

We would do like, kind of like a birthday present and throw some candy in there and he would take like skittles and like open the bag and like glue them shut. But then obviously you can't do that many there. We just sent a couple hundred just testing the waters.

Then we would lay down. We'd send about 2,000 pills a box. you get like one of those FedEx packages with artwork. You lay the X down flat, vacuum seal it. Then you put carbon paper over it and you line the box with it. So the whole box is lined with pills. And then you put some artwork inside. So we started sending shipments of 2,000 pills a week.

And are you sending this overnight, FedEx overnight? Or what is the way to internationally send FedEx? If I remember it was like three days, I think it would take. And the carbon paper. is to block the x-rays, the scanners, right? Which comes into play a little later. Correct. So they're sending me 2,000 pills a week.

You know, we're hitting the raves. You know, we're selling out fast. I go with my buddies. I would give my buddies 100 pills each. I'd have five friends with me. I'd walk up to people, hey, you want some pills? They'd be like, yeah, I'd be like, that guy over there. Boom, they would go do the deal.

Hey, you want some pills? And sometimes I would ask an undercover cop. Hey, you want some pills? Boom, he'd handcuffed me, throw me on the wall, search me. I got nothing on it. I'm like, dude, I'm messed up. So I would never carry, but I would do all the talking, and I would recruit the people, and my buddies would hold.

Yeah. And then at the end of the night, you know, we'd have a mountain of cash. Wow. How many pills could you sell at a rave in one night? At a rave, we could probably sell, like, anywhere from like, probably like four to 600. Holy shit. You know, depending on the rave, but it's like 20 a pop.

So, you know. I mean. What's the math on that? 12,000 bucks. Yeah, 12 G's. Just going hand to hand. That's retail. Yeah, and that's retail.

And what are you getting, what is your price from the Guatemalans? I think it was like three to four bucks at the time. Right. So I think they get it for two. I think they give it to me for like three or four. Yeah. He was kept finding new connects and like sometimes the pills are come back,

dude, we don't like those. And we like go back to the old guy because it'd be cheaper. I think he was getting him like $1.52. They were so cheap and they were so good. So you were getting, you were paying 12 grand for, no, eight grand for two thousand pills and what quadrupling your money? Yeah. Yeah. So we would, I would get.

And then so. It's good business. Yeah. I mean, listen, that when the XC first came, I think it was like, they put like MDMA with a little caffeine. And like that was the best mix. And they started putting like opioid. Yeah. And like speed.

And speed. And I didn't like that at all. I don't like the, like, I like the kind of just chill you're on the zone. but so then I was like all right I'm done going to the raves and stuff and then I started giving to a supplier so I would give him a boat a week he would sell it to everyone so I was like you do the running around so I ended up being like a wholesaler Western Union started freezing our money we were sending it so often boom and I'd have this girl send it this girl pay her 50 bucks pair and I was like bro I don't know what to do he's like hey buy this thing called Bitcoin it's like a stock it goes up and down and he's like uh he's like, you know, you can just send it to me and it's, it's totally anonymous and it's great. I looked at Bitcoin. It was 17 cents of Bitcoin. You motherfucker. I hope you bought some and held it.

Dude, I didn't buy any. I said, I don't understand this. Right. I said, I don't understand this. In 2010, nobody did. I was like, this is weird. And, you know, I was in a computer guy. So I was like, I don't understand it. Imagine if I just put a hundred, I bought a hundred bucks and got locked up.

you'd be like a multi-millionaire. Yeah, but anyways, so you would send him Bitcoin. That's how you would pay for it. I could have, yeah. But I never bought it. Oh, you never did? You never listened to him. No, I didn't listen.

I said, I'm not going to do that. I just don't know how. And he's like, all right, I'll send a guy down with 100 boats and you just give him cash. So he posted up downtown. And he's like, I'll do this every couple weeks. I'll start sending people down. Wow. So 100 boats is 100,000 pills?

Yeah. Wow. And how many times did they do that? Well, the first time is when we got busted. So he sent the guy down. So this is going on for probably like six to eight months. We really started just picking up steam with this. Okay.

Well, you were killing it. How much cash did you had had you accumulated? Do you think? Probably like anywhere from like 40 to 70 grand. But like the problem was with me, I was not a good drug dealer. I never was man It was always chasing the high I got way too high on my own supply

Like as fast as I was making it bro I was like I was spending it Like if I was a smart Like I could have been accumulating You know hundreds of thousands if not millions But like bro I was spending And like just buying everything I wanted And you know it comes fast it goes fast

It goes fast type deal So If only we could have fused my brain and you're brawn back then, dude? Dude, I know, I watched your stuff, and you were like more business mindset. I saved everything I made. Yeah, yeah.

So I went, where were we at the story? Okay, so these guys sent down the guy. He was giving me pills, and after that we shortly got set up. Okay, so the Guatemalans sent another, one of their workers, their mules across the border,

down to Denver with 100,000 pills. Yeah. It's a lot of, that's like mandatory federal time. It's a shitload of pills. Yeah, that's a shit. How did it go down though? How did you get set up from that? So after the Guatemalan came down or sent the guy down with the pills, you know, things were going good.

We were just partying. Money was flowing in. We were hanging out with chicks. My buddy was hanging out with this chick for a while. And all of a sudden she kept like asked me, she's like, hey, can you get a thousand pills? And like, we never even told her we sold or anything, but she wasn't dumb. And I was like, no. Like, I don't know what you're talking about.

And like this went on for like three times. Finally she's like, my buddy has, I don't know what he said, like 10K ready to buy a thousand pills, which to wholesale by that, like that's a quick flip. You know what I'm saying? I'm getting in for four. Yeah. That's a quick six G's, you know? So I was like, all right. I finally agreed.

I was like, you drive though. Hang on. And where are the pills? Like are you keeping 100,000 pills in like a safe house? Like what's the distribution here? Yeah. So he would give me. He would hold the.

pills. Right. He'd give me like five boats at a time. Right. Um, and I would keep him at my grandma's condo, which she didn't live, she didn't live there. She lived in New York. Um, my dad would live there. Yeah. And, uh, so we'd keep it there. We had an apartment. We kind of keep it there. Okay. I would never sell from there. I'd go meet people and stuff like that. So I see. I was so, okay, so the guy who came down from Canada was basically just going to post up in Denver until all the pills were sold. Correct. So he'd give me like $5,000 a week.

How many had you run through at this time? By the time the setup happens? I was probably through from just that guy in total. That guy. Not even that much. We were probably on the, probably like 20,000 pills. Yeah. Yeah.

So we, so what happens is this chick, she finally asked. She's like, all right. I was like, okay, if you drive, because in my mind, I'm like, if she gets pulled over, that's on her. So I sat behind her and I put the pills of the feet and I pushed it under her seat because I was like, she wants to take the risk. She can do it. I don't know what's in it for her, but, you know, it must be her friend or something and she's going to get some. So we show up to Walmart parking lot. This sketchy-looking Mexican cat gets in the car. He's kind of like shaky and looking through his money. And I can already tell there's not enough money. And I'm like, something's,

up and I'm like pull the car out go through the McDonald's drive-thru she backs the car up she starts to go forward this SUV comes head on boom smashes her smashes in the back this cop like jumped out like on the hood pointing pistol at her head and throw me on the ground pistol to my temple and I'm like looking at the Walmart sign and I was just like man I'm going to jail for a long time how many pills were on you uh we had a thousand pills but then they went back to my grandma's they found another 25,000 pills, or sorry, 2,500 pills, and then they stole like 30, 40 grand cash, um, weed, like all these paraphernalia things, steroids, like they took everything. They, it was like the movies, bro.

Like, when we showed up back there, they had cut the bed open, pillows, like, ripped all the pictures off the wall. Like, it was like, it was like, like disgrace. So I got locked up and then I posted bail. And you're in federal court, right? Well, I posted bail. Yeah, I mean, I sat in jail, posted bail. And I knew I was looking at like 4 to 8 or something like that.

And I'm like, there's no way I'm going to jail. I'm 19 years old. So I went to the post office. How did you know you're facing 4-8? Did you have a lawyer? Did you? I didn't know then. I just figured it was a lot.

I know now. In hindsight, how much do you think you realistically would have gotten? You had no real record. you had hooliganism, but you had no like real criminal record. You're like a nice white kid, let's face it, that counts for something still. And yeah, it's okay, 3,500 pills. It's not, I don't even think that's a mandatory.

I don't even think that's mandatory. I think it's like over 10,000 or something. Yeah, I mean, it's a felony. It's a felony, but I don't think there's like a statute on it. Yeah. I mean, I probably would have maybe done six to eight months. months and then got like four years of probation. Right.

First time offense. Right. You know, I did face those charges later. Right. And by the grace of God, we'll talk about that a little later. So I... But this is a big decision. So you choose to...

Because when I got popped the first time myself, my father, who's a lawyer, was the one who was like, we should get you to Canada. So I had the same kind of decision to face, but I was like, now, I'd rather do time than fucking go to Canada. Canada, dad. Really? Yeah. This is the first time I got popped, though.

Not the charge that sent me to prison. But, okay, so you decide to take off. Yeah. So my buddy was going to come with me. That guy caught. He was like my partner in crime. And, you know, he acted. He had done so many pills.

He acted like he was retarded. And they actually came up to me. They're like, hey, your brother, like, retarded? And I was like, yeah. So, like, good for him because he didn't talk. And I just didn't talk either. Posted bail. we got out and I was like dude no way am I going to jail right now like I am in my prime like I am done dealing with the court system I had been on probation like half my life it felt like so I was like no way went to the post office issued me a passport while I was on felony bail and that's it man I told my dad I was like I'm out and my parents were kind of supportive like my dad was my mom was worried but they were like yeah and I was like I've always wanted to travel Europe I'm just going to go wow so I hopped on a gray house and

I went to Indiana. I said goodbye to my family. I told them I was just going to travel Europe. Hopped on a train from Chicago to New York and said goodbye to my family there. They knew that I was going on the run. They're like, turn yourself in. Don't do this. And I'm like, no.

Tell your grandma, you're going to need to get some cleaners over to your apartment in Denver. Thank God she never went back there. You son of a bitch. Yeah, seriously. Yeah. But hopped on a plane, J.FK to Amsterdam with about $2,000 to $3,000 in my pocket. They had torn the entire apartment apart. And the only thing they didn't find was I had a like two to three grand in a slipper

That I owed someone and like it was like thrown across the room but they didn't look inside it Yeah, so I was like boom I bought a ticket nice. Yeah so you got a couple of dollars in your pocket And just the fucking wind at your back and the law at your back. Yeah, it sounds kind of exciting actually It makes me nostalgic for youth so you first place you fly is to Belgium or Amsterdam Amsterdam Okay. And then you're like washing dishes or being a cook somewhere in some shithole Irish bar. So I show up to Amsterdam. I go to jail my first night. I'd throw the book at you if I was a judge. He came into my court. I show up, man. I'm like, all right. Like in my mind, I'm like, I'm on vacation. Like, this is great. Let's go tear up the town. So I get off the plane and I'm like, all right, what can you do that you can't do in the state? So I'm like, I go to the store.

I buy Absinth. So I start taking some shots of that. The super hot Russian chick, she's like, you want to do a Russian tour in her accent? She's like, I'll drink with you after. And I'm like, sure, whatever. At the end, she's like, I don't drink, but you can have my shots.

Wow. So I'm drinking. Then I hit the coffee shop and I'm smoking. And now I'm like starting to get cross-eyed, you know? And these guys like, yeah, we're going to the club together, these Canadians, and they're like, meet us there. And they told me the address. For some reason, this address stuck in my mind.

next thing you know I wake up in a holding cell and I like wake up and I'm like dude what like what happened so like run to the window I'm like cops I'm so sorry I'm so sorry like I'm a dumb American please let me out I'll never do this again and they're like are you sober you good I probably like fell asleep on the street like I don't know what happened to be honest like it blacked out and I the cops said all right we'll let you go where's your hotel

and the only I just I can remember was that club So they drive me to the club At 2 a.m. Park right in front of the club I get out, walk right in the club Meet the Canadians And I was like, I love Europe I was like, this is crazy Yeah

But I was staying at hostels, you know, I ran out of money Super quick, you know, ended up like Like, and Amsterdam's ghetto too Like it was pretty rough Like I had some dude chasing me down Yeah He's like, you stole stuff from me, blah blah And that was the night

The night before I blacked out Like he was like chasing me like trying to get me I was like running down alleys and stuff So I was like all right I got to get out of here I called my cousin he had a friend in Belgium who worked there and had a job and all that says like all right I took the bus went to belgium I basically was run out of money Rolled up with my handy dandy resume and uh went to the irish pub and the guy's like looking at me He's like he's laughing he's like all right yeah you can clean dishes he's like hey where's your like uh working visa i was like oh it's coming in the mail don't worry You know those things.

The mail here takes a while. So he's like, all right, cool. Just let me know. So next thing you know, I'm up there washing dishes, drinking all like the wine. And, you know, I had a decent life for like five to six months. But, you know, I was still fully addicted, bro. Like, I was drinking hard.

And, you know, it was always like feeding this addiction. And after like eight months, this crazy English guy starts the job. And he's in the bar. And this dude has like no family. He's actually on, what was it? It's called, I was on Bravo. What's the show called?

Where they live on the boat. Anyways, he got on some reality television show now. And we met up later, but he's a crazy kid. And he showed up. And one night, we're closing down the bar. The boss left just me and him in the bar. We're like about to shut the doors. Boom.

A bachelorette party comes in. These English girls. They call like a hen party. Yeah, hen night. Yeah. I was trying to think of the name. It's like a weird. Yeah.

So they come in. Next thing you know, we're drinking behind the bar. We're just grabbing bottles. Like, like hooking up with them on the pool table. Sure. And next thing you know,

boss shows up the next morning, calls us in. Prince out the paper of my Vancouver son. He's like, you're fired. I watch the cameras. You're like freaking out.

And we're like, and we're like, and we're like, pay us and we'll leave. you'll never see us again and he's like no I'm not paying you blah blah blah blah and we like we both grabbed him by the and we walked him the cash register like pay us now

and we'll leave so he opens the cash register gives us our like weekly salary or whatever it gives us your whole hundred euro yeah give us our 200 euros whatever it was and then we hopped on a ferry and went to England wow wow yeah you're just

living like a vagabond you're living like a gypsy yeah you're living like a gypsy right you're living like a And this guy basically was that I was with. Yeah. Dude, there's so many sketchy people in Europe. So many sketchy people. And all the countries are so close that there's so much like crossover.

And yeah, dude, this is wild. So what did you do when you got to England? So he's like, all right, mate, come with us. He's like, come with me. I can get us a job. So we go on the ferry, get over to England. His idea of getting us a job was us painting this apartment in some like little inbred town up north.

with no electricity, no hot water, no furniture. We were just in the shell of an apartment. We're painting it in the day and we're sleeping there at night. I'm like, bro, this is terrible. I'm not like, we got to figure something out. We can't do this. It's cold. It's rainy.

Like, it was freezing. Yeah, chicks are fat. Pigs and skirts. That's right. It was wild, bro. But we ended up going to this place called Sheffield. It's like a big college town. Walked on the street.

We're like, hey, we went up to the club. We're like, hey, do you need a PR which is like we go around and we're like hey come in this club we'll be a free shot right and they're like well we're full tonight we're like let us show you what we can do and we just like hit the street bro drunk like we got so many girls and people to come in that club they're like all right we'll start paying you guys you guys are great so we're working there for a little while I end up moving in student housing over there and like probably like three or four months into this this kid tries to rob the safe at the club and so they

freak out. They come at me and I'm like, I barely know this guy. Oh, your friend, your buddy. My buddy who I came with. Yeah. And I'm like, dude, I barely know this guy. And they're like, oh, okay, like, you're cool. You can stay here. So I'm staying there. So I call the Guatemalan connect. I'm like, all right, let's try to get

things going again. So you're thinking ship an ecstasy from Canada to London, which is a great play. They're all fucking junkies over there. They are, dude. But, dude, they were like, this is what I'm saying like their pills were terrible like disgusting right and I would go out of these houses

and there'd be like a bunch of white powder on the thing and I'm like oh this is legit like what do you and it was like plant fertilizer like wow like like I don't even was it ketamine no I don't think it was ketamine it was like no that would have been too expensive or some weird stuff like and they're like sniffing it and like I'm like this is disgusting like you guys like what do you do and they're like doing the whip it's

like inhaling that I'm like bro this is like the lowest of the low drugs so like we tried um we went to this and these guys take like 20 xc pills a night and so my pills are more expensive you know they were like hang on so first of all you're connect in Canada when you got popped what happened to his dude that was in Denver did he get away did anybody tell him okay he got away and I passed the business on to this one of my guys that I was wholesaling to. Okay. And it like grew into this crazy

like he was one of the main exports of Ecstasy from 2009 to like 2013. And then he got popped. They tried to hit him with Rico. And that was all coming from your Guatemalan plug still in Canada the whole time. time.

Wow. Like it grew into this crazy thing and he ended up doing like 15 years in a federal prison. He just got out. The guy you gave the business to. Yeah. He just got out, man. Maybe it's a blessing that you got popped early. Yeah.

Yeah. In certain ways. Did you ever figure out who set you up? It was this chick. So she, I think she got in trouble in California. Uh-huh. And she like snitched out there. But I think it was like big trouble and they used her as like an informant.

Yeah. Like long term. But she ended up like. going to like a psych ward like I don't know dude like it was a weird situation like I never got full like resolve or like what happened there but

it was just like it was weird and it was probably from God like to get me out of there because another thing was that's when my friend started dying of this epidemic of oxy and like I never was in it when it was like real hot and I know if I was probably around that that could have been me dying sure

so probably so but the point is you're still good with your Guatemalan connect in Canada. Yeah, we're still good. And you didn't, you didn't rat, so he's still fucking with you, he still taking your calls. He sent me some cash. Okay. He was very happy that I just got out of there. Nice. Because, and then my other, my partner,

because he didn't speak, if I didn't get caught for three years, they dropped the case on him. Okay. Because I was the main player. Right. And they knew that. Right. And he was just like, some retard I was with like. Is your goal as you're over in Europe being a gym? Gypsy, is your goal to just wait it out until the statute of limitations is up? Yeah, so that was always like what I thought my goal was to, you know, leave the country.

At first I heard it was the five year was the statute of limitations. Then someone told me it was seven years. And then someone told me it was like not at all. So I didn't really know, but I was like maybe if I waited out five years, I can come back and just be like normal. I thought about joining the French Foreign Legion because, you know, if you know about that, like, I don't. murderers join it like people who are like so the french has a foreign legion and they train foreigners and you have to learn french and once you've done five years in it they give you a new

name and a new passport they completely change your identity so back in the day people would murder like have crazy like murderers come there yeah and they would change their identity and like and like and the french for and they're like mercenaries so right people pay them they're like hey go take care of these people right go help the u.s army and their allies in the French. Wow. Fascinating. Yeah.

So you're thinking about doing that. So I was thinking about doing that. So you're in England. Do you get pills over from Canada? Yeah. So I started getting shipments over. Okay. Tell us how that works.

How do you send overseas? How do you send a boat of ecstasy? The same way you send it domestically. Still FedEx. FedEx. Okay. Or maybe it was UPS. Okay.

It was UPS, but the same type of way in the box. Yeah. Artwork. Sure. Send some artwork. I think we tried the first time with like it was like a care package of stuff bear a card and like six things of candy and he sent me like 150 and then I made some money sent it over to him. Hey, send me a boat. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So I like worked my way out. I think he was like, hey, I'll send you this. Make some money. And then I'll be able to buy the product and send it to you. Wow. Okay. So here you are you are you selling it in the clubs in Sheffield? So I'm in the clubs. Like it's a total college party town. Like and it was just. But it was just. Terrible bro like I gave this dude four pills like he has sold him four pills and like They would get theirs for like four bucks a piece but they'd have take like 20

I was charging eight euros because I'm like you only need one of these like these are high quality like Like you could take one and this like they call him chavs like they're kind of like white trash of there This dude takes it I mean he's a skin head with scars on his head looks like bottles been broken on his head I sell him four pills throws it in his mouth crunches it up downs a beer I'm like dude I wouldn't do that that bro comes back up to me like in five minutes you saw me fake shit you yank like freaking out on me like in my face bro and i'm like bro step away from me bro like we're gonna have issues

and then he's like sell me another four so he's like here's two more free throws in his mouth choose it up and so i and i'm like hide him bro and this dude's like looking for problems bro next thing you know i see him on the couch oh my god like he can't even open his eyes and I walk up slap him across the face I was like don't ever say I sold you fake stuff I was like you're an idiot I was like you're gonna be so messed up now and like he was just like oh mate

oh just like like I mean like gone bro like okay so it was just bad bro so you what do you mean it was bad like we were stepping on people's toes everyone was hearing about this amazing ex and they were like seeking me out and then like the gangs that were running the town heard about it

And then like it was just a mess, bro Like I was just like dude This is not worth it And I hate living in England It's dark all the time It's it's like cold Like I wasn't making that much money Like I'm in this college town

Like it just wasn't for me so So the market wasn't worth it either It sounds like if you could only sell it for eight E euros a piece and you're getting it for four I don't know it's a lot of I don't know It's probably better than whatever the fuck you were doing But yeah it wasn't worth it bro

Okay so I was like all right I'm out So I sold my last bit, like, bulk sale to the Pakistanis that were like giving me issues. I was like, here, then take it. I'm out. And I hopped a plane that went back to Belgium for a minute. And like I had a few friends there. So I was like spent Christmas and New Year's there. Boom, hopped a flight to Tenerife, the Canary Islands.

And I've been hearing about this place. And that's Spain? That's an island off the coast of Spain, Morocco. Yeah. It's an island off there. It's like the Cancun of Europe. Okay. So they always mess it's geography-wise, it's Africa.

Right. It's owned by the Spanish, but it's English Rand. Interesting. Why English ran? What does that mean? The south of it is all English bars. It's like, it's a big tourist. I mean, the north of Tenerife is like the locals, but the south, completely English ran.

Right. Yeah. Okay. And so it's kind of like a Majorca or a Beezza. It's like a year-round Ibiza. Right, right. Great weather, like California weather. Right.

So that attracts a lot of people from Northern Europe that escaping that fucking wretched weather. Yeah, year-round parties. In the winter even more, you get Russian, Scandinavians, beautiful girls, beautiful people. Tons of money. Tons, I mean, I would say, like, Ibiza is, like, upper class very expensive. This is, like, more of, like, Cancun status. Right. No, but there's a drug market there.

There's a huge market for drugs. drug market year round yeah yeah so I go down there I walk down the beach I'm like man this is paradise I was like this is amazing like beautiful girls like beautiful beaches I walk down the beach drink like 12 beers I roll up to where all the clubs are I'm like I'm like man I'm like this is awesome I go to one of the club I was like you guys hiring he's like yeah you can work tonight wow I'm like what and he's like yeah so I'm working out this club where they pay me eight drinks when I work they give me eight drinks when I work four drinks when I get off and I work from like

like 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. and I get one euro per person I bring in. So I'm getting paid like nothing. What is this shit? So they're paying me in drinks, bro. Like I'm like three months deep of this. They saw you coming. Yeah, dude. I don't even really do it for everyone. You don't even see the day. I mean, the way you make money is you peddle drugs while you're doing it. Right. I don't even like see the day anymore. Like I sleep into like to eat food and then I'm like back at the club. Like it was like a terrible lifestyle. Four months is full blown alcoholic. Bro. I can't even afford 30 euros. to sleep in a room with eight people, cockroach infested. Like, I'm like, at the low of the low of my life, rock bottom, full-time alcoholic drug

act. Like, if I'm shaking in the morning, I drink right when I wake up until I go to sleep. Like, there's always, it has to be a drink coming in my system. Who are the people, who are the people then doing the hand-to-hand drug sales? Like, was it just like tourists like you, like, like, kind of lost, like, European guys or American guys, or was it actually organized? No, it was organized. It would be like the Canarians would do it. The Africans would sell like more like lower level stuff, little stuff. Yeah. They buy it. The looky, looky, man, they'd always be like trying to sell you sunglasses or watches.

Uh-huh. Hey, looky, looky. Yeah. And, uh, but like in the club scene, it was kind of, it was a little bit of a free for all, but they definitely had like some big players down there. Not it, it wasn't like England though like it was a way more open market right because there's so many tourists right it's not local it's like you can meet a tourist selling something and he's gone yeah so it's you're not gonna like the word's not gonna get out yeah you're like pushing you're not gonna get told on because they just did the drugs and went back home had a good time had a good weekend you sold it to them every day of their trip and then they're gone right and is it mostly coke or is it coke ecstasy everything um well i shouldn't say everything because now there's all these weird

drugs but you know coke and ecstasy right no one was doing meth or nothing like that. But, um, okay. So, um, I get down there. I'm rock bottom, bro. Like, I'm sleeping on the beach some nights. Like, I literally don't have a place to go, like couch surfing. Like, um, and I'm at this point where I'm like, dude, I'm, I'm a low point of my life.

Like, and this American guy comes up to me, his name is, uh, or I mean, he's from Columbia, but he's born in Miami. We kind of mingled a little bit and, and kind of got cool. And he came up. He's like, hey, gringo, like, we don't want to see you living like this. Come live with us. So he invites me to come stay with him and his dad. So I start working out every day eating good food, finally getting sober,

clearing my head up a little bit and like three or four months feeling good, man, get like a job at a bar or like a restaurant where I'm, you know, doing the same stuff. But in the day, making better money, getting a good meal out of it. And what are his parents? Do you ask what his dad does? Do you? Well, he got to that. So he sat me down one day.

He said, hey, gringo, you want to make some real money? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, yeah, we'll go to Columbia. He's like, he pulled out a bowl of grapes. And he's like, see if you can swallow these. And, you know, it took me a few times. And he's like, don't swallow, just inhale it. And he's like, perfect.

He's like, I'll book a trip. And that's when we started taking trips, Venezuela, Aruba, Colombia. Okay, so you're going there and you're picking up Coke and swallowing it. Yeah. That's your mulling it. Basically, yeah. Wow. This is mostly, that's so crazy.

That's so crazy. So his dad is the one with the plugs, obviously. Yeah, his dad's been doing this. So it's like his dad, I think, did 12 years in the States. He was in Miami during the big boom. Right. he was heavily involved in that. Then he left the States.

Got deported or something. Got deported. Went back to Columbia. Then he came to Tenerife, the Canary Islands. Right. And so he has been doing this. So he's moving some pretty decent weight. So what was the process?

You go pick up, swallow in the source country, South America, bring it back, shit it out. And then his dad is the one that distributes it? Yeah. So the first time it was like a pure mule run. And it was sketchy, bro. It was sketchy.

Because he sent me and his son. In my mind, he sent us with his girlfriend's family down in Cali, Columbia, which back then, bro, like, there was no tourists. It wasn't booming. Like, this is a completely, like, ghetto place, bro. Calli's still ghetto. It's still ghetto. Cali's probably way more ghetto than Medellin or Cartagena.

Like, that's more touristy. We wanted to Cali, and we were staying in, like, dirt roads. piles of trash you'd have like crack heads in them like eating trash and like looking at you and you're like but then there would be like a beautiful girl on high heels like it was just like such a weird contrast and uh so we were there and like i was the only white boy and we it was always a process we go there for a week we party then we like go to the gym and like get our bodies ready for it and then we wake up eight hours before the flight before we have to be at the airport not the flight and we start swallowing, 10, walk around.

What are you walking around for? What is that? You just wanted to move. You wanted to start getting down. To be distributed in your intestine. Yeah. And it was really sketchy because they took us up to the mountains where they got the Coke. Okay. They paid a thousand bucks for a kilo. Wow. That's a dollar a gram. It's a dollar a gram. Holy shit. Does his son have the money or who's your handler when you get there? Who's the guy that's like, you know, leading you around taking care of? marry you. It was his girlfriend's, aunts, sons. Right. Okay. So, and they still hit me up all the time.

Like, come back. Get that, get that esophagus ready. I'm like, bro, I'm good. But like, they were cool. Like, they loved us there. Like, they drove me around to like all their friends. They're like, look, we got a white boy with us. Like, they loved it, bro. Like, I was driving down the street one time. I looked out the window pistol at my head. It was the police, bro. They're like pull over and they're pointing the gun at me. And they're like, what do you do? with a gringo and like oh he's a friend he's a cousin of him and i would say i always say my uncle was uh his dad means me teo politico so it's like it's like his my uncle like but not related to me like a second uncle type deal so we had some we were running we were at a park

one time smoking a joint military a k's pointed at us and i was like they stole my shoes And they left. They took my shoes, bro. I got to size 13. No one's gonna fit my shoes, bro. So, like, weird stuff was happening, bro. Like, and, uh,

okay. So, and his own son, this guy's own son was swallowing. Yeah. So, like, that's why I felt better,

right? Because I was like, I was like, he's not gonna put his own son to the slaughter. Right. But it was weird, bro,

because we, they took us up to the jungle that, like, stay here. I'm in this river. And it's kind of like all these families around. All of a sudden, 15 kids are circling me,

just staring at me. just staring at me. And I got this sombrero on and I'm like, like they've never seen a white boy ever. And I was like, hey, uh, Ijo, don't they start the guerrilla. He's like,

like, like the guerrilla is like the, like the traffickers, like the people who make it. And, uh, so do you think that's who the connect was? Because the guerrilla was used to be the FARC, who were like left wing political rebels

that were trying to overthrow the government. But they started drug trafficking to finance their operations. And then now they're full on just drug traffickers. They're not even a guerrilla anymore. So do you think that's who was supplying you guys? Yeah. Wow. Oh yeah. Did you see them with the bandanas and the big guns and shit? No. So they left me a little bit away from the camp. But I did see somebody like in a, he had like a plastic pool and he had like the coke like the coke leaves and

he was like he was like stomping it and he was like so cracked out. No shit And like And just like stomping it You know like so I didn't see that But I didn't see over there They don't want to bring me over there bro I'll get kidnapped

You don't want to go to the connect Yeah No you don't want to go Not a white boy You yeah I was like close enough And it was kind of It was just beautiful river

But it looked like the jungle book Like white river Like in this crazy looking jungle All these birds and monkeys around Like it was really beautiful But So then we drive down And

We go back And I'm like partying with and like so i remember the first time because i you know i've done a bunch of coke and these guys like don't do a line just do a like a little bit and i'm like you guys don't know me like i'm like i've been doing this forever and like i put down a line bro sniff this line and like me and my boys started wrestling i put him through a glass table at these guys house we went to this party and i was just like trying to wrestle everyone and it was like the only white boy and like this this gringo was like crazy.

Yeah. They like thought it was so crazy, bro. And then like, my hands and toe started to curl up. Like, I was so cracked out. I had to get Arvordiente and just like, and just like,

and I was like, dude, I'll never do a line of this stuff again. Like that was like, it's that pure. It's that pure, bro. So, okay, so yeah, you really got to be careful

when you're ingesting a whole kilo of this when it's that potent. Oh, yeah. So obviously the Colombians aren't stupid. They don't want their mules to die. So they've got it down. They've got a pretty good system down. Yeah. Like it people don't die as much as you think doing this, even though it's fucking so reckless. So tell us the process of how you got the, the balloons ready. Yeah. So this was, this was a real sketchy part. I wouldn't say

these guys were like, like, experienced with gringoes. Like, I feel like they were like, they knew the connect. And they were like, we want to start up on her own. But they had friends who did it. So, they like learn from that so they blender it up press it into eight grand balls and bro they only put like they put like plastic and then like one glove over it tied it off cut it and like that's all they did bro like it was so sketchy i didn't even see how they did it until they gave us it i never did it like that again after that i bought my own supply i packaged it myself and uh but that first time bro you know and so eight eight hours and it just happened to be bro like the night before American gangster came on

and then Blow came on the night before. I'm like, bro, I don't want to see these guys get caught. But then we woke up at like 2 a.m., boom, swallowing, swallowing. How many, so eight grams divided about a thousand? It was like, eight to ten grams. So you try to swallow 100. Right.

100 plus. So I was like getting close to that mark. And I'm calling the guy and he's like, he's like, come on, Gringo, swallow two more and I'll give you another like 800 bucks, 800 euros. And you're just getting paid a flat rate for this, right? Yeah, I got like six, seven thousand euro. Right.

Which is a fortune for you right now. Which is a fortune for me. And it was just, it's not bad for like a mule. Because, you know, I started, I kind of became family to them. And right. And so we swallowed it. How many mules are there? How many people going back on the, on the planes?

Just me and him. Okay. So you guys got about two keys in your stomachs between the two of you. Okay. A little bit less. He was having issues swallowing it. It was messing up his, like, stomach. Uh-huh.

So he didn't do as much. But it was weird, dude. the night before or the day before we went, they drove us back up to the mountain. And I'm like, dude, why are we going up this? And I'm like, I'm going to jump out of the car. And then I asked him like, no, don't worry. They put us in the river and they like smoked sage

and like slapped us with these plants and put like, like, they prayed like voodoo stuff. Wow. Like it was weird. For your safety. For your safe passage. Yeah, like demonic, like evil like ritual stuff. Not evil.

And you're still alive. Yeah. Yeah. This is how the people make a living. It's that or starve, you know. know yeah i know but um so but it's shoddy work there's just a there's just a one plastic bag and then one cut off a piece of glove over each yeah pellet right yeah yeah i mean they were doing like some santa ria stuff and yeah we made it but it was still like didn't feel right you know and uh anyway so

yeah it was a janky job swallowed as much as we could hopped on the plane drank whiskey the whole way because it just like numb the pain, made you not think about it. When it made... So you had a stomachache? Gave you a stomachache? Yeah, you feel weird after you eat it all. Are you not supposed to eat food?

Like, you're supposed to have an empty... That's what they say, bro. But I eat in between. They say don't. But I'm gonna eat, bro. Like, I can't do that on empty stomach. Yeah. I don't know why they say that.

Because even when we got caught, they wouldn't let us eat. And I'm like, I need to eat to push it through. Yeah. Like, but... Okay, so... Damn, that's fucking crazy. Were you aware of any other,

do you think there were other people on the plane that were working for your friend's dad that you just didn't know about? Potentially, yeah. It's kind of crazy too. Like, they'll sacrifice people. They'll put someone with like three kilos in a backpack or like five, 10 kilos,

and then they'll throw like a little meal through and then they'll give a tip off that he has drugs. Police jump on him, the bag goes through. Yeah. So sacrifice people like that. I've seen it. I mean, I was locked up with people that got sacrificed. They're like, I had 200 grams, and the police just came at me.

I'm like, yeah, you got sacrificed. Right. So that must be super common for Colombians to swallow and go to these tourist places. That's where the markup is. So you get back to the Canary Islands or serifae. Yeah, so we go to Madrid, and you're trying not to let it go through, and then you fly to the Canary Islands and then drive down to the spot. and then yeah you're just passing it

and like a dubay or whatever they call did you have to shit like did you feel like you had to go wow like you wanted to come out there would be these pills we'd take to like keep it in yeah and like a pregnant lady that's like gotta hold her water's breaking yeah hang on hang on keep it in the Columbia doing he's like if you got to

just just let a couple come out cut one layer off it's re-swallow him oh he said he's not like no dude that's nasty I'm not doing that. Yeah, and it's $80. Chuck it, dude. Yeah. So when it gets there, you get there, you shit it out in a duvet.

You got $7,000 for that. What is, okay, so they must step on that Coke a ton. So what you do is he would take it and he would turn one kilo into two. Yeah. It's still super pure because you're getting at like 90 something percent. Yeah. So you're still in like the 40. He's close to 50 because it was pure.

Yeah. And then he'll sell wholesale 70,000 euros. Holy shit. Yeah. Wow. So it's like 35,000 a key. Yeah. So imagine if you broke that down retail, you do that five times and be a millionaire.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And there's probably nothing like it on the island. No. Was there, okay, so after this, you told him, hey, I want to work for myself. Like if I go. Well, he told me, he's like, hey, save up.

up a little money, you know, buy your own and then, you know, take a portion of that and you could sell the retail and make a killing. Right. If you sold a retail, you know, you're, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you sell it 80 euros, 100 euros, like, you could sell almost out of gram. Yeah. To, like, tourist. Or, like, 200 for an eight ball, you know, so, like, you're, you're, you're killing it if you do that. You're going to make, like, so I was making, like, 30, 40 grand, you know, like per trip. Like per trip. Like, I mean, money was, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was coming out to around there. But the problem was is, we get back from the club after selling, we start doing it. Right. Of course. Of course,

we're just killing our profits. So, so the next time I go down to Columbia, um, it's me and his dad this time. Wow. So, so now we're doing it together. So his dad swallowed. Yeah. Whoa. Well, at least he walked the walk. He, Walked the line. He led from the front. Yeah, exactly. So we went,

we bought a kilo, and we broke it down, and we're just like sniffing and just working, bro. And now we put the plastic, put it in the glove, tie it off,

flip it, put it in the glove, tie it off, flip it, put it in the glove, you know, four layers of glove. So this thing's solid,

dude. Now I feel a lot better about it. It's not bursting. It's not burst. Because the last one that came out, I remember from the original one, it was like soft and like, it looked like,

it was like, this thing could have broke. And I mean, remember getting deathly ill when I got back. I got this cold and like probably stress and plastic and being thrown in the cold river with these rituals. It was like and I got like I felt like so bad when I got back and I was like oh it's breaking. Right. I'm like God please. Terrifying. Terrifying bro. So we went back down and and we wrapped up the key and everything was good man. We're swallowing it and like I said, I brought some back now I was hitting the club selling it. And, and, uh, and, uh, we wrapped up the key. And, uh, everything was good. And I was

hitting the club selling in. And I think it was like the third or fourth trip. I go down there and I'm in the airport, me and his dad again. Like we're like, we're better team at this. And we're in the airport and we don't hang out in the airport. We don't know each other because it looks sketchy. A 55-year-old dude with this white gringo, 20-year-old. And this black guy comes up to me.

He's like, Damisupasso porte in Spanish. And I'm like, oh, no comprende, sir. And he's like, secret police shows me the badge. And I was like, oh. And he's like, oh, you like Columbia, huh? Three times this year. And I was like, yeah, I have a girlfriend here. You know?

I don't like, ban o'clock. That's an easy answer. Yeah, he's like, sit down. So he sits me down. There's a super cute chick right here, like beautiful Colombian chick and this sketchy looking dude next to me. And I'm like, look at the room. I'm like, what are we doing here?

And she's like, the ecu-ray is like, we're going to the x-ray. I was like, oh. So when we wrap the Coke, he would put this shiny paper on it at the end. Now it was the last layer and you put like, uh, what's that smooth, uh, plastic you have like, uh, that you cover stuff with. Is it like wax paper? So the paper, it's like shiny like your, it's like wrapping paper, you know, the backside of it. How has like, those diamond formation.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, why are we doing this? He's like, this is, we'll, we'll pass the x-ray if the x-ray is. And I'm like. So is that different than what your connect, your Guatemalan ecstasy connect used? Yeah. Okay.

Use graphite paper. It was like this black paper I see But these guys use like this shiny Okay Paper But still the same properties it sounds like To stop an x-ray

Yeah, an x-ray scan To get through the x-ray Wow Yeah So I didn't know if it was real It was just made me feel better Yeah I don't know But I'm like obviously

We're taking an extra time to do this We gotta cut out squares Right around it tape it Right And then put the I forget the plastic like wax stuff around it So you could swallow it Yeah

Wow So we go to the x-ray and it's like a room this big bro and it's a huge machine and he he puts me in and it's like a little like jjjjjj and we go through man and um bro i'm like hands up and i walk out i'm like dude i'm like prison in columbia would be bad mm-hmm i'm gonna go to jail for a long time and i walk out and he's like 10 1dia sign your highness like have a good day sir sign fingerprint walk out of there adrenaline dump hit me bro like whoa I was like yes bro stopped it the paper worked yes the paper worked

and I like get on the plane I see the coming he's like looking back and I'm like yeah bro yeah did they pull it did they ever pull the dad over no no no no they bring go yeah yeah did that make you have to take a shit that would have to shit it all out being that scared uh no I was just like no I I just, I was just trying, like, I kept telling myself, don't act like you, like, try to act normal. Like, that's all I was trying to do. Because I was, like, almost visibly, like, shaking. Like, because I was like, and now that I looked back, I was looking at eight to 14 years in a Colombian prison.

And, like, you're for sure going to prison. There's no probation or nothing. Unless you can buy your way out, you know. Unless you have, like, serious cash to pay your way out. Yeah. Wow. So you dodge that. You get home.

Now you got a brick. Do you pay for the, you pay for the money? the whole brick. Like do you, are you using your cash to just buy it straight from your guys connect the guerrilla? Or do you have to like pay more because it's his connect? No, I just, I just, uh, pitch in and he gets it and he's just like, hey, like this is yours. So he was giving me basically at price. Right. Okay. At cost. But there was a big like I had like 70% of that was me taking it for him. Right. So you got 30% You got paid in product.

Yeah. And then I would take my payments for the product. I was taking more in supply. Right. So I could sell more. Right. Because I'd make a lot more. Even though it wasn't a chunk of money up front, it was way more profitable.

Right. Now I'm sitting on. 300 grams. Yeah, 300 grams of Coke. And I turned it into 600. Now I'm just got a key. Wow. And now I'm just like selling it.

And it must go like fucking that. Yeah, it goes quick. And I get so mad at myself because we come home. And next thing you know, we do three grams. And I'm like, bro, do it in Columbia. Don't do it here. It's a dollar there. Yeah. And here that was seven, like 600 or probably like 300 euros.

Crazy. At least. Yeah, like stop doing that. Yeah. And I would do the pure stuff too. You know, I wasn't doing this. Step-down. Right.

Right. How much would you do off of like a package? Say you had three, 600 grams. Um, a hundred? Yeah, probably like 100. Like stupid amount. Knowing you, we believe it. Yeah.

Yeah. We buy it. Yeah. We buy it. Yeah. Yeah. Do it like 100. Yeah. Did you have,

You had some money. He must have some money, right? Yeah, I had money. Yeah, I had, Did you get a pad? Did you get, were you bawling? I bought us, like, I rented out us like a two bedroom apartment, which they actually live in to this day.

Wow. And it was nice. You know, we furnished it up. And, you know, not bawling, but like, we were, we were living good. And I was traveling. I went like a weekend to Amsterdam. I spent like 10K there. Like, you know, like fancy dinners,

going to the club, bottle serving. like, and then when you're a bottle service, you're just like supplying everyone. And so, yeah, I mean, it was this crazy lifestyle. And I got very cocky after the x-ray because I'm like, there's nothing they can do. Right. The x-ray, I mean, I go through.

So then I started, because we used to go three months. We go one month, three months off. One month, three months off. So now I was going like one month off, one month back. Yeah. So, like, I was always traveling. Right. And were you going?

Did you try to, switch up locations like Venezuela this time. Aruba. We had a connect in Aruba. Really? Yeah. Oh yeah. Was that a Colombian as well? No. It was like a local. Okay. So yeah, it's just north of Venezuela. So it's all coming

from Colombia. Yeah. But I'm sure it was... Yeah, it came from Colombia. So instead of $1,000 for a key, it was four. Wow. That kind of sucks. That does kind of suck. But it's good to mix it up. Yeah, of course. You know? And the problem was on the last trip, Instead of going from Aruba to Madrid, then to Tenerife,

we went from Aruba to Caracas straight to Tenerife, which we never did that before. So I've been pulled in the airport, like, little office before. But this time they pulled me in the airport, and they're like, they're like the office. Like, what do you keep doing here? Where's your money? Pull out a lot of cash.

All right, where's your credit cards? Don't have credit cards. Where's your bank account? I don't have bank. How do you have money? Western Union. My parents are rich. I'm just a rich American.

I have a girlfriend here. I have a girlfriend there. I'm just traveling. Oh, really? Call your girlfriend. Boom. She comes in. Italian chick.

Yeah, I'm here to pick them up. Okay. Let me go. Walk down to the car parking garage. The Colombian was waiting for us there. Boom. They were waiting for us too. Drug task force jumped on us.

This is in Tenerife. This is in Spanish cops. Spanish cops. So I'm like, cool. Take us to the X-ray. Let's go. I'm like in their face about it. Like, I'm a rich American.

How dare you? I'm making a seam. They don't have an x-ray in the airports there because it's like old school. So they take us to the hospital. The hospital x-rays, they see a little better. So they put me up against the wall. I'm moving. They're like, don't move.

And they lay me down so I couldn't move. And boom, they got it. They're looking at it. They're like, yeah, we don't see anything. We're sorry to bother you, this and that. And like, we just have to get it signed off by the head nurse or head doctor. Beautiful Spanish chick puts it on the screen. to TNA boluses de draga and two intestino chaos

Heroina cocaina She's trying to tells me bro She's coming at me I'm like no No it's not I where She's like it's for sure she's screaming at me And I'm like I eat some Chinese food Because it looked like orange chicken or something

I said they were loud like And they're like boom slap the handcuffs off Or slept the handcuffs on and boom I'm going to jail man I actually they took me to the hospital told me I couldn't eat, gave me this X-lax drink, disgusting. I was like pissing out my ass, bro. Like it was terrible.

The Italian girl had to go to jail. She has a kid. It was bad, bro. I felt really bad for her because she had nothing to do with it. And after three days, we finally passed it all. The Columbia told them the exact amount we had, which I was so bummed. So are they standing over you, like counting the pellets? They're like giving us one of the things you puke in.

and they're like in like a room and like watching us. Yeah, they're giving you like an old school like a hospital. What do you call it? Like bedpan. Yeah, bedpan. It was so bad. And dude, nothing was coming out,

dude. It was just water. Like after like 50 of them came out and it was just like liquid. And then like I would sleep and they'd shake me. Try again. Try again. Drink more X lax. Drink more of the laxative.

And I'm like, no. Leave me alone. Because they couldn't go home until we were done. Right. So eventually it passed. But yeah, he told him the exact amount.

so bummed, dude, because I was like, I'm going to pinch it off at 60, and I was, I'm going to come up hard. That's what you were thinking. You're like, no problem. Yeah. I'm going to bail out with 40 pellets still or whatever in my stomach. No, I was, there was no bail. I was just like, I was going to, like, be the man in jail. Oh, I see. I see. You know, oh, you're going to, yeah, take it into jail, of course. Yeah, I was going to be like, all right, guys, I got it. Like, send me money, Western Union, or like, you could send my money to my girl. off the streets. She could put it on my books.

You know what I would have done? If I was a Spanish inmate, I would have said, how about stabby, stabby, now I have your Coke. That might have happened. That could have happened. You're a big guy.

I would have been a problem. Either way, it wouldn't have been a quick one. Oh, wow. That's fucking crazy. So how many pellets total? How many, do they weigh out the grams? Did you figure out the amount?

Dude, like, whatever it was, they weighed at like 300 grams. Like they straight. skimmed it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, dude, they're so corrupt. Spanish cops are super good.

Did you consider, because I know you can buy your way out. The early, one of the early episodes of the Connect that I actually don't think ever saw the light of day or might be on the channel still. It was like a Zoom episode

with this guy who got popped in Spain for a ton of like steroids. He said, he spent all this time in prison. And then some guy was like, bro, you know you can buy your way out of here for like 8,000.

thousand dollars that's what he did like they paid off the judge got to the right people well yeah that was a smaller back in the 90s oh okay still like you can you know if you had a hundred grand you probably pay your way out uh yeah because these guys this french guy and this italian guy had a thousand kilos on a boat and got caught and they got out quicker than me really yeah and so he was paying judges right and like big money you know but yeah um i was like bro i got a freaking less than a key. So if you have less than a kilo, it's, it's two to four years.

And if you have more, it's five to ten. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. So you're looking at like minimum two. Yeah, minimum. So, yeah, minimum two. Okay.

Yeah. So where do they take you? Did they get the dad? Yeah. Okay. Did they get him with drugs, though? Yeah. He, okay, because he had just got out, was waiting for you with the stuff still in his system.

Oh, yeah. We both got pop. Wow. Okay. So I was questioned for like half an hour and then he was in the parking garage like at the girl's car waiting. Okay. Dumbass.

He should have jumped in the taxi. He knows he regrets it so bad. He should have just hopped in a taxi and left. How much time did he end up doing? Same as me. Like two and a half years. Did they try to get you to like flip on the connect? I mean, we came from Columbia.

What are they going to do? I don't know. I mean, in America. they'd be like at least tell us they try to make a call to the cops over there. You know what I mean? But they're not the DEA. That's different. They're not doing anything. They don't, they don't, they don't, Spanish cops

don't have affiliate satellites like the DEA does in other countries. And even if they did with Columbia, it's like Columbia doesn't care, dude. Like, they got their own issues. Right. I mean, maybe the DEA has some inside somewhere, but they're not looking for like a guy with a couple kilos that they swallow it. Not Spanish cops.

No. For sure. Okay. Got it. So it's kind of an open and show. case. Yeah. But you stay in jail, well, prison, but you don't even go to trial for like two and a half years. Yeah. It was like one and a half years just in jail.

And I kept looking at it. I was like, dude, because the Coke was weird, we got, smelled like gasoline. I was like, I think it was fake? You kept looking at it. I was like, maybe it was fake, bro. Maybe they're going to let us out. Like every day, I was just like that hope you had to have. Yeah.

Yeah. And you were charged? You'd already been charged, right? No, no. Just threw us in a holding cell. And you were like that for a year and a half. No, like they put us in a holding cell and then they just threw us in general population. No paperwork.

Nothing. No. No. And the last if I wanted to call my embassy, I said no. Because you got a case. Because I have felony charges. So they don't even give you paperwork. They don't give you a trial date or a court date, a date to appear.

No. But like, so do you call your parents? You let your people know where you're at? Yeah, I call my parents. And my dad already kind of knew. He just had a feeling. He had a feeling both. times I got caught.

The first time with the X-C, because I was like, I'm going to go do this run real quick. He's like, I don't think you should. And he knew. And then he had a weird feeling about when I was in Aruba, and that's when I got caught. So, yeah, I hadn't talked to him for a month. They tried to push the embassy on me. I said, nope, I deny it. And, you know, I probably could have got some rights in there.

But the embassy, bro, I thought we were like, the greatest country in the world, had the most best embassy, but our embassy is terrible, bro. What do you mean? They're like some American. hanging out with these Spanish dudes, like they do nothing. Wow. Like maybe they can schedule you a visit. Like, I don't know.

Who's going to visit you? Like, you're in another country. Like, bro, they do nothing. The other embassies, like English, Ireland, like, they give them some money. They give them, like, newspapers from back home. Like, they support them. Yeah. We didn't get any support.

But so I'm there for, like, so they have a wrestling program called each. Hang on, hang on. I want to hear about the prison and the prison conditions. Yeah. did not part of you think, well, if we call Interpol, if I have the embassy call the DEA and be like, hey, this guy, he got pot for Coke, but he'd like to come home and do his time for ecstasy. Like, I'd rather do my time in the feds here home than be just in the ether bouncing or not knowing you're, this is insane, bro. This is crazy. Yeah.

No, I would rather be in Spain. Really? Okay. Please. Tell us about what Spanish prison is like. So, I mean, when you walk in, it's a little intimidating because, like, everyone, they try to mess with you. They're like, es a coolito. When you walk in, like, you know. Yeah.

But, and they separated me from the Columbian. And so, you know, I'm solo. But there was some English guys there. There was some, you know, people who spoke English. So I linked up with them. There was like a guy from Bermuda and stuff like that. And the conditions weren't terrible. but they weren't great either

I mean you could wear your own street clothes which is great and they had activities to do like wrestling, kickboxing gym like so I was just like I heard people over there before we get into this because this is interesting but I heard everybody there like a third of the people have AIDS

because they're banging heroin so this was that true this was a scary part bro I'm in here for three months and all of a sudden they take us in the back and they're like have this needle I'm like what's that and they're like we're testing for tuberculosis And so they stab you and it lumps up and if it like blows up you have tuberculosis. If it just goes back down, you don't.

So I'm like, all right, cool. And all of a sudden we're all back like they do the whole pod. And I look at some of these like Moroccan guys and stuff and their arms are just blowing up. So all these dudes have tuberculosis. And I've been in there with them for three months. Shit, bro. Terrify. But yeah, going back to the thing with AIDS, there was this guy, bro.

no hair, no eyelashes, and like a complete junkie with AIDS. And he's like, I remember, like, it was kind of like some friction. And he's like, I'll stab you with a needle.

Like that, like, and I'm like, bro, we're cool. Right. Like, doesn't matter how tough you are.

You're like, whatever, dude, have my soup. I mean, he wouldn't like try to punk me, but like I just like, I was going to like beat him up because he was just like a junkie like, like,

and just, I forget what happened. But I was just, I just call. I was like, bro, listen, we're cool. Just like, keep your distance. Yeah.

Like, and, you know, there's, like, brooms and stuff. You could fight with it in there. You could easily make weapons in there. People did. Yeah. But at the same time, it was more of, like, a life. So you weren't, like, so, like, just sitting there, like, oh, he touched my toaster.

Like, in America, it was, like, Rikers was 20 times worse than the Spanish prison. Wow. By far. I would, like, that was the worst part of the whole state. Really? Yeah. by far and so I linked up with some and there was I heard there was this American guy in there and he was a legend they called him Chicago and like this dude started riots this dude's like running pods and like he's this crazy dude and and everyone's like oh you got to meet Chicago like like everyone was scared of him and stuff like where was he from Cleveland yeah right yeah so um you know

So I find this wrestling thing, right? Yes, yes. So they, you know, they have all these programs there. You got to write an Estencia, it's called, and you got to wait your time. It takes like three months to get in these programs. I walk right up to the coach of the Lucchica which is like wrestling in a gladiator pit with sand.

You wear like a ghee and you roll it up and you go shoulder to shoulder. You grab their, their like pant leg and you go best out of three takedowns in the sand pit. Once you beat them, the next heavier guy comes. So it's like a wrestling team sport. Fascinating. This comes from Senegal, right?

Yeah, it does come from Senegal. It's similar, but they have their own twist in the Canary Islands. Wow. The dad, or sorry, the coach is the dad of Trota Spino, who is a UFC fighter. And he is like the legend. So his dad's in there for like 50 kilos of Koch and was like working with the police and like a cop at him like got caught. Wow.

So I roll up, bro. and you're supposed to like takes three months again i show him i point to my ears i'm like bro let me go he's like all right come on so dude i fall back in love with wrestling you know i start to sober up and like you could definitely take a route of like shooting heroin like there's so much drugs in there right i got my prescription for zanax and i got my sleeping pill that was the only thing i got and i would smoke hash uh-huh and drink prison hooch when there when that was around but it wasn't around much right you know but i wasn't going down like compared to the streets it's your Yeah, I'm sobering up. Yeah. Which is, you know, wow, your first time sober or basically sober in what, like a decade? Yeah. Yeah. So I start to clear my head, man. I'm like, dude, what am I going to do? Like, I'm rock bottom. Like, I'm 22 at the time or 23. And then they had a kickboxing program. I start kickboxing. Strength and conditioning. I'm strength conditioning. So I'm just like, it's like a full fight camp. And like I'm just training hard. And like I feel like God's,

talking to me like you're going to the ufc to win a champ like you're going to win that belt so like like i feel like god's speaking this to me and i have this epiphany i'm like dude i'm not like like these people like what am i doing here yeah like how did i end up here like i start like waking up from this like drunken drugged out stump like stupor i was in and uh you know and i actually beat a professional team from the streets a team comes in and these guys are getting paid then the president of the federation of luchican area writes a letter to the warden of the prison and says we want to keep this guy we want him to wrestle for our team so in my head i'm like this is my career path i'm gonna get out these guys are making like 4,000 euros a month which there it's like really which there it's like good money yeah yeah i'm gonna do this and uh and then next thing you know bro i this other team comes in from the street and they tell me don't talk about it like don't do an interview and i did this interview i was like i've done wrestling jiu jitsu but i love luci canary more than anything like i'm just

trying to play this part and they're like super racist like they didn't not like an american dominating in their sport and me and the crazy chicago guy met up and now we're on the same pod and like we're getting like crazy and uh we start drinking and selling alcohol and and We beat the team and, you know, we're just like basically running the pod. Like if people have drug debts, we go collect them. If people get out line. And dude, he's just slapping people left and right. Like, wham, open hand.

And I'm like, dude, we're going to get like stabbed. Yeah. And they would just bow down to it. Like, I don't know why. Like, he just had this aura. Like, even the guards got mad at him. And he was like, he was like, either you get this guy out of here or there's going to be a helicopter here. soon. He would tell the guards.

And then they'd be like, all right, we'll get the guy out of there. Like, and anyways, they didn't like us, so they split us up. And then one day the lady came up through a bag in my face. She's like, you're getting out of here. I was like, what? I had my girlfriend there. I had my, like, connection to give me contacts because I had very bad vision at the time. And I packed up my bag.

They con air me to the north of Spain, like out of nowhere. Wow. And you had to leave your wrestling team. Everything. Yeah. Yes. So you went to a prison in the north of Spain. They con aired me, bro.

It was a crazy scene. Oh yeah. This was wild. Tell us about this. These cops on the Con Air. Dude, they roll up in ski masks. And, like, you know, there's like the wardia, Seville and the National Guard, but these are, like, special forces. Like, and they charter a commercial plane because they don't have, like, planes for criminals or whatever.

So we're at the airport, rolled up, bro. Like, you can't even look up your shackle from head to toe. You look up. They stick their mouth and they, like, stick their hands all up in your mouth, like, searching for stuff, rip your shoelaces off. Then you get in this plane and every time you look up, bro, they, wham! Hit you in the back of the head.

Like hard, bro. Like rock you. And we'd seen Conair like a couple weeks before it came on. So I was just like, it was a trip, man. It was crazy to Connor. We had like rapist, terrorists. Like yeah. Crazy people, like 200 people shipped us to the south of Spain.

And then we got bust to the north of Spain. And eventually I made my way in a place called Leon. Leon? Lion. Yeah, Lion. Do you know yet when your court date's coming up? So now I got sentenced. That's why they were able to move me.

I finally got sentenced. I got a, I think it was like two years and eight months. And that includes the time you'd already been in? Yeah. Time served. Yep. Okay. Did you have, did you get, did they like assign you a lawyer?

Or is that even necessary? Yeah, I had like some public defender. He was terrible. Right. I didn't know who he was. Of course. Yeah. So that's just they,

they just offer you the first deal and you take it. Yeah. Okay. Yep. And then I signed a paper that I wouldn't come back to Europe for five years.

So they cut my sentence two thirds. Right. Yeah. Or one third or one fourth or something like that. They cut off a portion of it because I agreed to not come back. I thought it was Spain. But when I got in the U.S. I was trying to find England.

Like, bro, you're kicked out of all of Europe. Wow. So they had like fine lawyers. and like we had to find that public defender and he wouldn't answer me. And so I called one of my boys and my boy rolled up on him and was like, yo,

call him back. Like he's going to fight in the USC. Wow. Yeah. So you were on in the Interpol computers throughout the whole European Union. Like, yeah. Don't let this guy in.

Yeah. Oh shit. So, okay, so how long are you in at Leon for? So I was probably in Leon like six months and they had a boxing program. Okay. And I fell in love with the boxing. There was like this old school like it looks like Mickey out of Rocky like this old school guy and

You know there was three activities you could choose in the day. I choose two of them boxing one strength conditioning So I was boxing for like two and a half three hours a day So I'm just going bro and like and then we would have fights and sparring matches the the whole guards would come like It was like the movies I got won a couple fights I lost this rushing who had been locked up for like 20 years and all he's been doing is training and Wow. And yeah, it was pretty crazy. You must have felt good, though. Yeah, it felt good.

I was trained, bro. I was feeling really good. So what's the plan, though? You got America this whole time. You have this fugitive case still from the States. Yes. And you want to become a fighter. So how do we reconcile this?

What happens next? Yeah, so like, my dreams of being a luchicenaria were taken away. Now I'm like, I'm going to the UFC. Like, I felt like God was speaking to me, like you're going to be UFC champ. And so I was just training. And my goal was to train my mind, body, and spirit every single day.

So I was training my body, with strength conditioning, boxing. I was reading books. I never read books in my life. And all of a sudden, I'm reading books. And I was reading the Bible and praying and going to church.

And I was just like, I was just becoming this, like, weapon in this, and this, like, and that's why I got named the hurricane because of Ruben Carter, boxer was head of similar. story and and uh you know finally bro they would play mind games they're like oh you're going to get out next week that we could go by oh manana manana mania bro they would play like so many they'd play like my games for like six months that you had to come to a point where you're like i don't care when i get

out i don't care about my life anymore and that's how you beat them wow because the more you care they'd play mind games with you wow yeah it was very like psychological warfare and like they'd send you a paper sign this paper you're going to get out soon oh we're going to send you home soon oh we're gonna send you home soon. And then like you'd be like, and then you'd be like arguing with him and they love it. Like didn't you have a release date though? Didn't you have like, didn't you know the day you're the earliest release? No way, bro.

Like they said once you sign that paper, they said they're going to cut your sentence sometime off and they're going to send me back to the states. So when how did you finally get out? So finally, bro, they took me to a jail and locked like had me there for a couple days. And then they finally put me to a, they took me the airport in handcuffs. put me in this holding cell, and then they walked me to the plane, took the handcuffs finally off, handed the passport to the flight attendant who gave it to the pilot. Boom. I'm free for the first time in like two years and four months.

Okay, but do you think, like, are they, do you know where you're being flown to? Do they tell you- Yeah, I'm going to JFK. Wow. Yeah. And you have no idea if they're waiting to wait for you there. No idea, bro. Oh, my God. So at this point, like, I think probably a year and a half in, the embassy hits me up.

We know you're locked up. Okay. And I was like, oh, no. And I'm like, dude, my stomach like sunk when I heard that. I read the letter. And they're like, we want to meet with you. And I'm like, all right. So they meet with me.

Bro, they don't say anything about it, though. They're just like, we want to make sure you're okay and your parents and this and that. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. They don't say anything about it, which is weird. But when I got to New York, so I'm in this plane, bro. bro, first time free. I'm like, give me a wine bottle. And I'm like, dude, I shouldn't drink,

but I know what I'm about to, I know it's like about to happen. Oh, okay. So I'm like talking, I'm like hitting on. I haven't seen girls in so long. So I'm like hitting on all these girls. They probably think I'm crazy. I'm like, I'm just like so talkative

and walking around and like just have this like crazy. Like people were like, like, what's wrong with this guy? But when we land, I remember I saved up wine bottles and then right when I was landing, I just went. Because I was like, this is about to get heavy. Yeah. And like in my mind, I was like, can I run through JFK?

Can I run out of there? I was like, no, 9-11. It's not going to work. They're going to get me like because I was like thinking about trying to make a run for it. And when we landed JFK, they hand me my passport as I'm walking off the plane. I walk up to security to like the checkpoint. They scam my passport. Sir, how long have you been out of the country?

I'm like, uh, a little while. They're like, how's a while? How long's a while? And I'm like, five years. And they're like, yeah, come with me. Boom. And they walk me in the back, bro. And I'm in the JFK airport.

There's all these, like, immigrants. And, like, they're, like, interrogate and screaming at people. Like, this is the wrong passport. It's not you. Wow. And, like, so, like, it's just, like, craziness. So I'm sitting there. And then they're like, I'm like, what is it?

What is it? They're like, I don't know. Something pops up, but you have, uh, you're going to get locked up and, uh, have no bail. And I was like, I was like, really. And so then they put me in the Jamaica Queen's jailhouse for four days. Over a weekend. Terrible, bro. Yeah.

I'm so lucky this Italian guy gave me this leather jacket. It was like this Italian leather jacket like goat skinner's time. I just like I just like lived in that thing bro because it was like pimps coming in and junkies. And like I was the only white boy and it was just like so sketchy bro. Like it was just bad. And then they kept funneling people through and they're like and I'm like, hey, what's up with me, bro? Like are we going to do something? I'm just in the holding cell and like you're a different case.

Shut up. And finally, bro, went to my public defender and they're like, went in front of the judge and they're like, Mr. Highness, you have felony charges and we're granting you no bail and you're going to Rikers Island. Public defender sits me down. She's like, you need to go to protect custody.

And I was like, why? And she's like, you need to go there. She's like, you got to go. And I was like, and then I didn't even know what Rikers was. And I was like, no, man, leave me. I was like, throw me at the wolves. I'll lead the pack. Like, I've been locked up for two and a half years.

I'm not scared. I'm not going to, I'm not going to punk. city. Yeah. Like I'm going to freaking general population. So then they drive us to this place, bro. And it's like a bridge and then a fence. I'm like, bro, this is really an island. I'm like, because I didn't know, I really didn't know anything about it.

Were you the only white guy on the bus? Yeah. Yeah. Only white guy on the bus. And, uh, the public defender knew something. Yeah. So that I'm, I get there and they're walking me to maximum security because I'm a fugitive. Right. So they're walking me down And I remember the car

He's like man You must be one bad white boy And I'm like why's that? And he's like We don't see you guys around here I'm like And my mind I'm like I'm like terrified of mom

I'm like you damn right Like you know And they only said Italians there And so dude's the only white guys They send there And so we get there bro And like dude's boom Jump in my hey man

This is what is this what is And like they're trying to put like food Under my pillow My bro take this stuff I don't know how this works I'm not I'm not taking your stuff bro like I don't want any issues and so you're in a high security wing in rikers island yeah okay so what is that like

is it individual cells or is it pods individual cells okay which was good yeah it's like one hallway with cells d-t-t-t-t-t-t and you just have a little common area it's very small right might even been better i don't know but i mean obviously your max security you have dudes that are like out of control so you know it's first day at lunch i grab my food i go to sit down, you got the Latins there, and you got the blacks right here. And I'm just like, oh, man, this is so bad. And luckily, I was speaking Spanish to one of the guys. And he was, like, kind of cool with me. And I was like, if you need to go to Columbia, I got the connect. I just got here. Somehow I had my passport. I was showing them all the stamps and stuff. I don't know how that happened.

That's a good way to make friends. I got the plug. Yeah, I got the plug. So they were like, they let me, hey, wringo, come sit with us. So like, I was like, thank God. So like, we're going in. And like, you know, it's just like there would be like an opposite gang member coming in and get stomped out, bro. Like you'd see the gangs, you'd see the guards come in and they'd be like, what up, blah, what up, look to the inmates. So like, they're all connected, bro. And like, and like I saw a dude get knocked out, lay there in a pool of blood for like 20 minutes. And dude like walk back over like ranley and soccer kicked him in the face, bro. And I was just like, and like the guards are just chilling, like eating their food, read their newspaper.

They were like, oh, come get this guy. Yeah. And I'm just like, this is bad. I'm like, wow. That's wild. And what were some of the cases? What are some of the people on that wing? What were they facing?

I have no idea. Like, at that point, like, I just knew not to ask any questions. Like, I didn't want to know anything about these guys. Like, I was cool with the guy fingers. He was the leader of one of their gangs, which I don't even want to mention gang names just because, like, but like, he was missing a couple of fingers, got a cut off. Wow. And, you know, he kind of looked out for. me it was cool but uh these guys were coming in heinous you got to go to court i would have to get

out of my cell do the whole pull your pants down squat and cough get back on the bus drive across to jamaica sit in this nasty holding cell eat these gross peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for eight hours and they'd be like all right we're going back and i'm like what mm-hmm no judge no lawyer like they did this three days in a row well they get you up a 5 a.m. Yeah, they get you up at 5 a.m. And you come back at like five. Like it was like ridiculous like and finally the one day I was like no I'm not going and they're like oh and then like fingers like bro you're gonna go they're coming with tasers if you don't go and I'm like all right I'll go so I come I go and I'm just like super mad and one day I was in

the holding cell and I saw the mirror like you know they have the bent mirrors like that and I could see the cell next to us and it was just full of like five white boys And I asked the brother, I was like, hey, man, what are all those white boys? He's like, oh, that's protected custody, but punk city. And I just go off on them, bro. I was like, you pussy's. I was like, why are you going over there? And this dude's like, get him.

Get him. Like, he's loving it, bro. Like, so, like, I was just like, you guys are running and making our race look bad. Like, what are you doing? Obviously, I was just in the mode, you know? Like, I was just like, so we go back. The guy's like, I'm using your phone. I said, nobody's using my phone today.

Like I'm just in a bad mood, bro. What does that mean? Your phone? Your phone time, right? Yeah, phone time. So, like, you trade a bag of chips for a phone time or whatever. And he's like, really? Meet me in the back.

This is the same dude who's, like, been giving me issues. Like, when I'm, I'll be like shadow boxing and he'll walk by. You fight. We fight for real on the streets. And I'm like, okay. Like, because, you know, I've been training, bro. Like, I'm like a machine right now. Yeah.

And so this dude comes. back bro. I think we're about to get in the fist fight. Pulls out this nasty shame. Like in my face, bro. And I'm like, whoa, man. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I was like, dude, I don't want no problems. I don't want no problems. But he kind of like lets his guard down. Boom!

Lay him out. Then his brothers start coming running up, bro. So I take my shirt off to grab knives. And I was like, this is so bad in my mind. I was like, I'm about to get it from every angle. So you took your shirt off to grab the knife so you wouldn't have your prints on it? Is that you're thinking? No.

What do you mean? Why are you taking your shirt off? Because if you try to grab someone's hand with a knife and they jerk it out, you're going to slice your hand up. Of course. So I put my shirt on my hand so I could grab people's knives. I got you. So they're strapped.

They have shanks on them. Yeah. Oh, wow. And I don't have one. And I wouldn't want one either. They're nasty. And but then the Latin dudes come up and they're like, no, you mess of him. You mess with us.

He got art. He's with us. And I was like, thank God. So they break it up. They throw me and myself. Fingers comes back up to me. And he's like, hey, man, you got to get out of here, bro. He's like, these guys got a SOS on you.

And you got to go to protect the custody. And I was like, what's the SOS? He's like, stab on site. And I was like, really? And I was like, all right. So I called the guard over. I was like, bro, you got to get me out of here. I was like, these guys want to kill me and they're going to do it in the morning.

I got to go. He goes, F, you white boy. Slammed the door. my face. Wow. Never forget that. Wow. Yeah, dude.

So I'm up all night praying, making armor, like tearing my room apart, like talking to fingers. He's sliding me over Suboxin. Like, I'm like popping that stuff. And like, like, I'm just like, I'm like, I've like read the art of war. I'm like, I'm going to funnel them in the tunnel. I was like, because like I've seen what they do. They'll just open the door and let the guys come.

Yeah. Like they'll just open your door and hit in their doors. Yeah. And they'll just come. They'll do that on Rikers too. They'll do that. They'll straight up. Oh, yeah.

They'll let guys in to kill you. He obviously, they told the guards to keep me there. Right, right. Usually they move you out. Right. Like, they don't want those issues, but the guards already knew. Wow. So, dude, I'm like freaking out, dude.

Did you have a weapon? No. Did you think about getting one? No, I just wanted armor. Like, there was nothing. I couldn't make a shank, bro. These guys spent hours. Yeah.

They make them like chips of the wall. Yeah. Like, I didn't know how to do that. Like, I was just like, I was going to, like, I was going to, like, tuck all the sheets in my clothes so I had armor and then just like have like my hand and I and I like put my my mattress against the wall so you had to come through this like small area so I was just like when they come through I'm going to knock them out one by one and I'm going to grab knife and I'm going to knock them out right

and uh but like an hour before bro god came through man and just like heinish and I'm like all like tweaked out like didn't sleep that much and they're like I was like who are you in like these big two white football player looking dudes and like US Marshall and they're like look at me like my room's like tore apart they're like is this all your stuff and I'm like I was like yeah and they're like all right let's go and then like do you have stuff at the the front and I like my passport all these clothes and stuff I was like nope let's go yeah I was like get me out of here bro like for all I was just I just want it out of yeah so then they put me on this bus shack like this. So like, I can't, I can't, like extend like this.

I can't straight my back. They drove from New York to Pennsylvania to Vermont, back to New York. So within 48 hours, I'm back in New York. And I'm like,

what is going on? Are they just picking people up and dropping them off? Just circling the country. I think they get more money every time they cross state or drop someone off. Yeah.

So they're just circling. Yep. Circling. And it is just torture, bro. Like the AC was out on the thing. sorry, the heater was out on the van and it's February in the East Coast. It's freezing, bro.

At night, we would just be shivering like this. And you just sleep like this. And every 72 hours, they have to, by law, let you out into a jail. But just so happen, every 72 hours, I'd lay down and be like, thank God. Harnish, you're on the next one.

So, like, I wouldn't even get, like, more than 20 minutes on a bed. So they do that on a plane. They do that to people on planes. They'll put you, I've heard of them putting you on con air, flying you to Oklahoma, then flying you to wherever. Yeah. Michigan. They'll, and just keep bouncing you around like this.

And then you break, you say, I'll take a deal. So they do it as a way to, like, crack you as well. I know. Yeah. And they only let you pee every six hours. Wow. So like, you're bouncing and you've got the box. Yeah, dude.

You're like this. You're like this, bro. Like, you're literally, I was like, bro. I was in your. I don't even think I'll get treated that bad in Colombia. Well, maybe, but in Europe, I was like, this is terrible. Like, I'm getting treated like a straight animal. Yep.

And this was like a real, like, eye-opening part two. I was like, I have to go pee, like, so bad. And I'm like, he's like, shut up or we won't feed you. And he bounces a Gatorade bottle off my head. And I just, like, grab the bottle, hit my knees. And I'm just, like, pissing all over myself. And I'm just like, dude, this is bad. So I haven't slept a single night because it's,

just this. Yeah. The whole time. I can't sleep. The one night, the first car we were in didn't have a heater. And at nights, bro, I'm telling you, I thought this old guy was in there. I thought he was going to die. Like, it was so, like, we were just shivering, bro, and they didn't, like, they just didn't

care. And so after 11 days, I finally made it to Jefferson County, Colorado. They put us in this mountain jail. Finally, bro, I had a pillowcases. Like, you never get a pillowcase. Like, you were like, I was just like, but I couldn't sleep. dude, because I was like hallucinating. And there was like this escape artist who was with us, this one point.

I was like, he's like, yeah, I'm an escape artist. I was like, what? He's like, I was like, you really think you could escape? He's like, absolutely. And I was like, really? And he's like, he's like, oh, yeah, bro. And I'm like, he's like, I can't though. I have a kid now.

He's like, I got it. I got to go home. I got to deal with these charges. I got to be good. And I'm like, I'm like, well, tell me a time when you would escape. Bro, he slips his cuffs like nothing, picks his locks. Wow. Has the locks off.

And like there was a time when we were at like a police station and they like took someone and the door was open. And he looks at me. He goes, now. I would run now. Wow. And like so he would just be chilling with his cuffs off. And like it was and like and like the guards are coming. And he put him all back on.

Whoa. And he said he said they put him in the back of a police car and handcuffed. He slipped the cuffs. He pushed the ceiling up. which made a little gap in between, jumped in the front seat, unlocked the door and got out. Holy shit.

He's Houdini. Yeah, he's like Houdini with it. Wow. So it was, I met some interesting characters, to say the least. Got back to Jefferson County,

went there. So I went from like all Spanish and Moroccan to all black and Latino to all white boys. Yeah. Still haven't been free though, except for that one plane ride. Yeah.

And then, I'm there for like two days. Terrible, bro. Like, and then boom. My mom post bail. I'm free for the first time in two and a half years, 2014 Valentine's Day.

Wow. And my dad calls me. He's like, I'm at a yoga festival downtown. So I go downtown Denver and I'm doing yoga with my dad. And I just keep looking around. I'm just like laughing and people are looking at me. I'm like,

you guys have no idea. So I went from all that, then the bunch of white chicks. Wow. Oh my God. So now you're, but you're in federal courts. You're facing time for your original chart,

your ecstasy charge. Yeah, so I'm bailed out now. Yeah. So I know like, I'm like, I can't drink. I know that's the issue. Like, I can't drink. Like, I need to continue to seek God, but I got, I went to a church and like, it was just all about money. And I was like, I don't want that.

I don't need that. And I found a gym, an MMA gym. Start training there. Next thing you know, four months in, all right, you're ready for an amateur fight. Go four and O's an amateur, all knockout in submission. then I turn pro and I go 7 and 0 or sorry 8 in 0 as a professional

I make it to the fight they say you win this fight you're in the UFC you lose you're in the back of the line well a year before this I had torn my LCL before a fight like a year and a half before this went to the doctor 40 pergissette they prescribed me boom instantly hooked bro

now I'm doing oxy my dad has oxy I'm smoking it I'm going to Mexico after my fights and I'm buying like bulk taking it back, flying home with it. And you're on bail still? Is it still? Oh, shoot.

I kind of fast forward to that. So before, I think it was like my second pro fight. I did my probation. I did all, everything I had to do. I didn't smoke. I didn't drink. I didn't do anything. I passed every UA.

Okay. My probation officer, probation officers I've had in the past were horrible. Yeah. Like attack you in every way. This one was amazing. She spoke Spanish. I spoke Spanish with her she loved me I would like send her pictures of my fights like she was so cool finally she was just like so chill with me

I went to court for because it was like you had to have like So first when you got bail there was like a not a parole officer but someone that like a pre-court Yeah pre-trial pre-trial. Yeah, officer. Yeah So I went to court and I had I had been doing everything right I've been doing community service I've been doing community service like everything I could do I did I showed up in court my coach spoke my aunt spoke who was a social worker in the place she got me the best public defender

and the stands were full of fighters UFC fighters bellator fighters wow so the judge saw that and they were like he has a prominent career in fighting and so the judge is like Mr. Heinish since you haven't been in trouble for the last five years and you're like

who briefed this guy He's like, we never see that. And that's amazing. He's like, he's like, hang on. But did that, did the fact that you've been on the run come into play at all? Like, did the DA or the US assistant US attorney try to use that to like argue against giving you leniency? I don't know, dude. He just said because I hadn't gotten any trouble.

That doesn't make any sense, though. You skipped bail. Yeah. Okay. So it was like I was on the run, but I just didn't turn myself in. didn't get in trouble. Sure. Fair enough.

So they had no idea I was out of the country. Doing time. Swallowing Coke, muleing coke and doing time in a Spanish prison. Like they didn't talk somehow, bro. It's hilarious. I slipped through the cracks,

I was a god thing for sure. And, yeah, so, you know, he said, Mr. Heinish,

I'm going to give you no extra fines, which I already had to pay like 25K. Uh-huh. And he's like, I'm going to give you two years of probation. Wow. Beautiful. I said,

thank you God walked out of there I was so grateful for everyone who came and boom that's when the fighting career started fought for professional

professional fast forward now I get to this fight but a year and a half before that I'm back hooked on drugs bro like I'm back

like and like this was a bad addiction like painkillers are rough bro opioids who I would I would quit three weeks before my fight I'd be deathly ill

with the withdrawals for a week then I would feel better, cut my weight, fight, and then to celebrate, I obviously I didn't drink. Yeah. I would take pills. Wow. So this vicious cycle I couldn't break. Should we maybe

talk about that on the Patreon? I think we should do it. Talk about that on the Patreon. Because I want to talk about fighting. I want to talk about Bitcoin. Yeah. And I want to talk about God. Yes. I want to, because that's just kind of a new thing in my life as well.

So let's just wrap so I could take a breather. because that was an incredible story. Sound good? Yeah. Did it ever occur to you when you got sentenced to probation? You might have just not skipped bail, not gone and fled to Rifa in Europe and muleed Coke and, you know, been in the mountains with Columbia and guerrillas and then in Spanish prison. You could have maybe skipped all that and just gone to.

parole. Yeah. Got in probation. But dude, I was... Maybe not though, because you were so spun out. No, no. This is why. This is why because I would have never been able to complete probation. Right. I knew for a fact. Right. I wasn't going to be able to not drink. I was not going to be able to not smoke weed and do drugs.

And you're getting random UAs. And you know how it is. It's just compounds. Bro. If you're on probation and you fail UAs, boom, now they hit you with that. Now you're in jail. Then you come... Like, it's just... You can get... trapped by the system so easily if you don't truly make a change. Like because like you'll get in trouble and then you're like, oh, I don't want jail. I got to continue my job.

All right, now you're on probation. Now you gotta pay for you A's. You gotta pay for these fees. You gotta pay for all these classes. You gotta drive yourself to these meetings. And it's like, it's a full-time job on top of the job. And it's very hard to complete. Totally.

Like that's why, because before I was on probation for so long, finally, I went to the judge. I brought my wrestling trophy that I just won. And I said, I can't do probation anymore. How much time will you give me in jail? She gave me 10 days. Wow. Okay. That was young.

I was like 18 or something. Right. And she's just, I was like, I cannot do it anymore. I just won a national tournament. I'm going to college for wrestling. I can't do probation anymore. It's too hard for me. How much time are you going to get me?

She gave me 10 days in jail and it squashed everything. Totally. Worth it. It was completely worth it, bro. Because probation, it's great because you don't have to go to jail, but it costs a lot. of money and it's just a lot of time and it's hard bro because like especially if you get a bad officer like you'll be like have all these plans oh your color came up today you got to go pee yep and you're

like you can't travel like it's just like it's not freedom really it isn't freedom bro and it's set up to just make you fuck up again yep and give them more money it's all revolves around revenue for the government yes that's a fact so at the time i was like there's no way i'm going to be able to do probation and I didn't want to go to jail and honestly I was ready to like go on this adventure like I was like fired up about it like I'm glad you did because you got this fucking amazing story yeah I was freaking out because like I thought I was maybe going to get stopped in like the JFK like airport but you don't get stopped going out they don't check you at all no it's only coming back exactly have driven into Mexico they wave you in yeah yeah they barely even have cameras like you just yeah my buddy um robbed a

a safe from a club and got charges on him and drove to Mexico and lived there for three years. Oh, which, which buddy is this? Is that the guy? Uh, no, he's a, he's a different guy. Oh, no. Okay. So whatever happened to the guy in, uh, the crazy English guy. Oh, the crazy English guy. Yeah. So he disappeared, ran off and now he does like reality television shows on Bravo. What the fuck? That's so fucking random. And so it was crazy because when I fought my second fight in the UFC, it was in London. Yeah. So it was just crazy because like it was crazy how it happened my first UFC fight short notice in Argentina So like there was a time when I was back in Argentina and I'm sitting there and I'm like dude I'm back in South America Right I'm doing it legal

This is cool I get to go beat someone up Get paid and I was like this is awesome So my first fight it was a round trip back to South America My second fight was a round trip back in Europe Wow and so it was like and then my third fight was in New York Like it was like I went like on this tour Of like the tracks that I was on

Obviously I was in Argentina Not Colombia but it was still South America And I was back in London I went to Spain I visited the English guy I visited the Colombians Yeah And it was really sad too

I was in touch with the Guatemalan guy His younger brother who I was really good friends with Went back to Guatemala and was in some drug stuff And got smoked He's dead Oh fuck Yeah he got a machine gun down That'll happen down there

Yeah dude really easy real quick. Whatever happened to the Colombian dad. Now, did he get deported back to Columbia? No. He has like dual citizenship in Spain. Wow. Lucky. So his dad was actually Canarian and jumped on a cargo

ship to get out of the Canary Islands and they found him like halfway and they were going to kill him and he jumped off the boat and swam to Columbia. What the fuck? So that's how his dad ended up in Columbia. Became Colombian.

Yeah. Wow. Is this an African guy? Are they black? No. They're dark-skinned Colombians. Like he was canarian. Right.

Canarian-Columbian. Just like Latino. Wow. Dark-skinned Latino. God, that's fucking crazy. Do you miss any of it? Um, I kind of miss like the adventure, like just being so free because now it's like so many

responsibilities. But like I would not trade it, man. It was just like a, it was a season that I needed to become the person I am. And like that's like, that's like, Because I'm like, what if, would if, would if, what if? Like, what if I just train wrestling? Because I was like, like, national champ, state champ, like, like, winning all this stuff. Like, but like, I partied so hard.

I was still winning. Like, what if I didn't party? What if I got, went to the UFC and like, but then I'm like, yeah, then the success and the money would have came. And what would I have done? That animal inside of me would have went down that road. And I would have ruined everything. Instead, I went down that road now.

And now when success comes, I'm like, all right, I know how to handle it. I see that road, but I ain't going down there. I was there. And plus, you've earned it. Like, you're not selling drugs. You're, you're training hard. Or you're, now you've got this new, like, crypto business. And it's like, this is a passion. And, like, it's, it's a much more lasting satisfaction than the just quick adrenaline spike of, you know, swallowing a kilo. Even though when I got out of the x-ray, after the x-ray, when I passed that x-ray, that was an adrenaline spike, like winning a fight. That was the closest thing. Bro, like, I'm telling you, my whole body was, like, shaking, but I felt like you'd jump up, like, up to the ceiling.

Yeah, yeah. And, but yeah, man, I mean, you know, I got hooked on pills. And, you know, I just wasn't changing, bro. And I really had to seek my relationship with God. And I really had to find that true change. And it didn't come until I fully surrendered that. I let go of that old life. And it was, like, overnight transformation, like, like, God.

And then I got baptized. And it was like, I saw the water as being dark. I got or when I walked in, it was clear when I got, I was dark. And I felt like God was like, there's your sin and your addiction dead. And from that time, man, I was broke. I was living in my buddy's basement. I was not in the UFC and I was struggling with oxy addictions. And one year later, bro, sober, broke into the UFC, four knockout wind streak, broke into the top 10 of the UFC, met my wife, married my wife, and bought a house with her.

Wow. So it was just like, like, like, God just, like, blessed me when I just let go of that old life. And, you know, there's been struggles. Like, I was telling you before, I had this brain injury. Like, everything feels good. Like, and I'm beating these guys in the gym. And now they're in, like, main events and, like, fighting for titles. And I'm like, dude, I still got it.

But, like, this brain injury is scary because it was, like, it was making me feel like a different person. And I was losing who I was. And but now, you know, when I was messed up at my house on the computer, what am I going to do? And I was looking for the stem cell treatment in cellular performances. to got a quote. It was like 20, 30 grand. I'm like, I was like, I could afford it, but I'll be strapped because I haven't fought in a while. Right. Got on this call with this meme coin,

Joe Rogan's dog, Marshall Rogan Enu. It was a Twitter space. Got on there, told him my whole story. I was like, I paid 10K for a fight camp and now I can't fight. And I was like, in the stem cells would help. They call me after they say, we want to pay for it. I'm like, what? And they're like, yeah, give us your Ethereum address. Boom, they send me 30K in Ethereum. I call the stem cell place. Hey man, you take Ethereum for payment? Yes, we do. Boom, sent her right over. Wow. I was like, crypto's crazy, bro, with clicks of a button. I'm moving money like that. But look at that. Look at you're doing the right thing. And when you need help, it's there for you. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what I'm saying. That's what God is.

Yes. God provides, man. And that's what he did. And then, you know, it helped a ton. And now I have a great relationship with Ed Clay. That was Ed Clay. The interview you saw he's the owner of Cular Performances to. They're partner with the UFC. Wow. Good people. I'm going to go meet them in Nashville next week for the Bitcoin conference. We're going to go watch fights, watch Trump speak. Yeah.

Dude, okay. Let's, I can't wait. There's so much we're going to talk about on the Patreon in this vein. But plug what you got going on. I want people to come fuck with what you're doing. Yeah. So Crypto Kings, you know, we are a crypto YouTube channel. You can follow me on Instagram, Ian Hinesh, MMA.

Same with Twitter, Ian Hynish M.A. If you want some good crypto plays, we're in the middle of a crypto bull market. We are about to witness an explosive bull run with green candles and everyone getting money. So if you want to be a part of that and find some good plays, Crypto Kings LiveStream, if you want to YouTube, Ian Hinesh, MMA on Twitter and on Instagram. And then I just started a podcast, which is going to be a media company. and this is just about testimonies, powerful stories of what God has done in people's life. Full transformation similar to mine.

And that is Spirit and Truth Media. Spirit and Truth Media 316 on YouTube. So, you know, I'll drop it in the comments whenever you post is. All those links will be in the description too. And bro, yes, switch over to the Patreon. But I can tell you right now, I'm going to go to your crypto consulting. Cryptokings.com. Yeah. Because I think this is, if you're a young person and you want to build wealth, there is no better opportunity in this generation. Yeah. You know what I mean?

So I'm really excited. Yeah, I'll give you a play on the Patreon. Yes, please. If you guys want it, it's a layer one that is so undervalue and it is brand new. Yeah. And we'll talk about it in a minute. Ian, I love you, dude. I wish we would have been running around back in the day. You know what I mean? but you meet when you're supposed to. Yeah. So thank you for sharing that. Absolutely, man. And it's an inspiration.

You've come a long way and it's powerful. And it's going to help somebody. Yeah, absolutely, man. And same with you, man. You have a crazy story too and look what you're doing with your life. And you're making a business of it, which I love that, man. And you're bringing the light to these insane stories and people are loving it, man. You're blowing up.

So I appreciate you having me on. Of course, man. Thanks for coming all the way out here. Ian Hinesh, go check him out. And we'll see you over on Patreon. Patreon.com slash the Connect show. Thanks, buddy.